Breathe
by elitejace452
Summary: It was just supposed to be a routine case ... Until everything went terribly wrong. ((Set during Season 7))
1. New Case

A/N: This is a story idea I've been toying with for a while! Hope you guys like it!

* * *

"There have been three victims in the past three weeks. Irene Machen was twenty, Haylee Gibbs was twenty-one, and Lauren Simpson was twenty. All three women had blonde hair and blue eyes." Hotch looked at the photos on his tablet in front of him. "Topika Police are overwhelmed and have asked us for any help we can give them. They haven't had this many murders in the last fifteen years and have a small police force. Most of them have never had to discharge their weapons."

"There is so much rage here." JJ counted at least thirteen stab wounds on each victim as she zoomed in on the post-mortem photos of the women. At least seven were clustered in the genital area of each woman. The rest were scattered around the body of each victim. There were marks on the wrists and ankles of each victim that showed they had been restrained. Their eyes were still open, frozen in horror at their final moment of life.

"Garcia, did any of these women know each other?" Prentiss asked as scrolled through crime scene photos of the three disposal sites. The women were left dumped on the ground. No time had been taken to make sure their appearance was neat or tidy. "Obviously there are no signs of remorse." Their clothes were dirty and blood stained.

"I have not found any connections yet, my love." Garcia quickly scanned the screens in front of her. She had each of the victim's banking statements, personal emails, and phone logs pulled up on her many computer screens. "If there is a connection, I will find it. Garcia, out." She gave them a wave before the screen went black. She pulled a search interface on her computer and went to work, her fingers moving at the speed of light over the keyboard.

"He's moving quickly. He holds them for five days, kills and disposes of them, and picks a new victim in a week." Morgan added. They would only have about seventy-two hours to catch their unsub before their next victim turned up. They were going to have to hit the ground sprinting in order to get ahead of their unsub.

"When we land, Morgan and Reid head to the medical examiner's office, Rossi and Emily go check out the disposal site for the last victim, and JJ and I will set up command in the local police station." Hotch doled out commands, looking down at his watch. "Try to get some sleep. We still have about four hours until we land."

* * *

"You feeling okay Reid?" Morgan looked at Reid with concern. Reid nodded as he cleared his throat. He turned his head away as another coughing fit overtook him. They had just left the M.E.'s office. All three victims had the same stabbing patterns. There wasn't any DNA on the bodies and no evidence of sexual assault. The stabbing patterns appeared to be random. There was no sign of hesitation marks on any of the victims and the unsub had used some sort of wire to bind the first victim but had changed to tape for the last two. "You've been coughing a lot since we got off the plane."

"I'm fine." Reid answered as soon as the coughing fit subsided. He didn't have time to be sick right now. Morgan gave him a look but didn't press the issue. "Our unsub could be impotent. It would explain the stabbing of the genitals." His chest felt a little bit tight but he didn't want to be babied by Morgan, so he kept his mouth shut for now. He figured he would slip out for some coffee later and he could pick up some cough medicine. They were quickly running out of time before the next victim would show up.

"Right, sexual rage because he lacks the ability to rape." Morgan nodded in agreement as he pondered over what they knew already. He forced back a yawn. He hadn't been able to turn his brain off on the plane. They were only sixty-nine hours away from another victim and he wanted to do everything he could to prevent that. "Let's head to the police station to meet up with the others."

* * *

"It looks like the unsub picked a place that was quiet and easy to get in and out of." Rossi pinned up the last of the crime scene photos to the corkboard the police had provided them. They were all crammed into a small meeting room. "The park was deserted at night and in a quiet part of town and the hiking trails were not part of normal patrols." He coughed several times, trying to clear his throat unsuccessfully. He reached for a glass of water but had to brace his hand against the table when another coughing fit overtook him.

"Are you okay?" Prentiss gave Rossi a worried look. He had coughed several times while they had been out at the crime scenes. Rossi nodded as he took several big swallows of water. "The unsub didn't take a lot of time to hide the victims. The unsub didn't take any extra time to hide the victims." He was burning up and tried to casually loosen his tie, but Prentiss gave him another look. She was going to make him take some ibprofun. She had heard Reid coughing as they came into the police station and hoped that a virus wasn't making rounds on the team. Of course, no one could help when they got sick, but this was definitely not a good time. She made a mental note that when she got a chance, she should pick up some Vitamin C for the team to take to keep them on their toes.

"Garcia hasn't found any connections yet." Morgan added in. They were busy trying to fix the timeline between the three victims and get into the head of the victims. The first victim was snatched outside of the dry cleaners. Her husband had reported her missing several hours later, but the police had found nothing after the dry cleaners. Whoever this was, they were covering their tracks. They only had fifty-six hours before their next victim would turn up and they were feeling the heat. They wanted to bring this unsub to justice.

* * *

A/N: Sorry, it was a little bit short! More soon!


	2. Sick

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and follows! Hope you enjoy this next chapter!

* * *

Reid pressed his lips firmly together, trying to prevent another cough from exploding out of him. He had felt progressively worse over the past eight hours as they had worked to put together a profile. He could tell he was running a fever and he was completely exhausted. He was struggling to keep his eyes open and his chest was on fire. He had taken some cough and cold medicine about an hour ago, but it didn't seem to have helped at all.

"There has to be something." Emily was frustrated. Her entire body had started to ache in the past few hours. She had probably caught whatever Rossi and Reid had. Out of the corner of her eye, she could tell that Rossi didn't feel well. His brow was sweaty and he had been coughing a lot. She hoped they could catch this unsub soon so they could all get home and get some sleep. "There has to be something, some connection between the victims."

"What if we're looking at this wrong?" Hotch pressed his thumb and forefinger into each side of his nose. He was stressed and tired. He knew that they all were and they were running out of time. They were down to only forty-eight hours before another woman was killed and another woman was snatched. "What if the killings are about jealousy?"

"He stabs the chest area and genitals. What if he was rejected by someone who looks like his victim?" Morgan turned to look at the corkboard where all the photos of the victims were. "What if, we're looking for a woman?" His eyes opened wide as he started to pull it together. "What if we're looking for a woman who is jealous of the others beauty? The stabbing of the breast area and genitals is because she is jealous of their sexual appeal! She was probably bullied in high school by a blonde haired, blue eyed girl. She was pushed to the edge and taking it out on blonde haired, blue eyed girls?"

"Being bullied to killer? That is a pretty big leap." JJ didn't want to be skeptical, but most kids that were bullied in high school didn't turn into serial killers. The statistics were not on their side and she didn't want to go down the wrong path. She just wanted them to catch the right killer and hopefully save the current victim and the next potential victim. "What could have caused the leap? What made her transition from being the victim to killing?"

"She probably was overlooked for a work position, a promotion maybe?" Emily nodded as she started to see where Morgan was coming from. She wished her head would stop throbbing so she could think a little more clearly. "She's probably young herself. She would need to be strong to be able to subdue these women."

"Hey baby girl, I need your fingers!" Morgan had dialed Garcia. They needed to start narrowing down who their unsub might be. He had a million ideas running through his head. They were really lucky that they had the hacker and computer extraordinaire at their beck-and-call. They were going to need her if they wanted to find their unsub. He wanted to find her as quickly as possible, not just for the victims, but because he could tell that the team was falling, one by one, to a nasty sickness.

"Whatever you want, sugar plum!" Garcia laid her phone down and transferred the call to her speaker. She poised her fingers over the keyboard, getting prepared for whatever the team threw at her. She was used to the long hours that the team worked while on a case. She kept her phone volume on loud so if she accidentally dozed off, she didn't miss a phone call.

"We're looking for a woman." Hotch started off. "She'll be under the age of thirty."

"She'll need to be physically fit, so rule out any woman who has a disability." Emily added. Garcia nodded on the other end of the line, even though the team couldn't see her. The list was shorter than a lot of the lists she normally dealt with because the town was so small.

"She won't have blonde hair or blue eyes." Reid spoke up. "She'll most likely be in a low-level job. She probably has been at the same job for years, maybe even since she left high school."

"Your list is still pretty big." Garcia said when no one else added anything. She was looking at the list in front of her. It still was several hundred names long. She knew the team didn't have enough time to track down several hundred women and rule them out.

"Um, this woman will be a local. She will have been born and raised here. She wasn't involved in things in high school." Rossi threw in before succumbing to a coughing fit. He turned away from the table and covered his mouth with his hand. He pulled his hand away and tried to mask his alarm. There were several bloody spots in his hand. He wiped his hand quickly on his pants leg and turned back, trying to keep his face calmed.

"Are you okay?" Hotch could tell that Rossi was trying to disguise his worry. Rossi nodded dismissively and tried to jump back in to the conversation.

"What else, my loves?" Garcia winced at the sounds of Rossi coughing. She could tell from that cough, that Rossi had definitely caught a nasty virus. The list was narrowing down steadily but she still had over one hundred names, which was still too many for the team to investigate.

"She'll come from a broken home. Look into homes that had CPS visit for suspicious injuries." JJ threw out. If this woman was a killer, she would have probably been exposed to violence at a young age.

"That list goes down to four!" Garcia exclaimed, excited. Her team never failed her. "I've already sent you the names!"

"You're the best, sweetness!" Morgan pressed end call. They didn't have any time to spare if they were going to find her. "We can split up and each take a woman." He turned to face the team. Rossi looked so pale and Reid was almost swaying in his chair. He stood up and wrote the four names up on the board. Their pictures and files were already printing from the fax machine.

"Morgan, you and Reid take Hannah Rochester, Emily, you and JJ take Taya Handell, Rossi, you and Detective Harsh will take Gianna Miller, you can catch him up to speed on the way to her house, and I will go with Detective Jones to Victoria Hayes house. I want to bring all of these women in." Hotch wanted to get moving. He quickly sorted the pictures and files and handed them to his different team members. Everyone nodded and shoved back from their chairs, eager to get these women brought in.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Detective Harsh was alarmed at how hard Rossi was coughing as they sped towards Gianna Miller's house. They wanted to get her picked up and brought back to the station as quickly as possible. As they pulled up, Rossi was still coughing.

"I'll be okay." Rossi cleared his throat as he opened his door. He hoped after the four women were brought in, he could talk Hotch into letting him head to the hotel for a few hours of sleep. He hated to let a cold get to him, but he needed to get some sleep so he could get better. They started to head towards the front door when Rossi stopped, swaying back and forth. Rossi blinked, trying to get his vision to clear. His entire world was very blurry.

"Agent Rossi?" Detective Harsh reached out towards Rossi. He let out a shout when Rossi slumped over to the side. Harsh threw his arms out and was able to catch Rossi as he slumped back, his eyes rolled back in his head. "Agent Rossi!" He gave the agent a small shake, trying to get him to wake up. He whipped out his phone and dialed 911. "Please help! I'm at 511 Garden Court. FBI Agent Rossi has passed out. Please hurry!" He almost yelled at the operator. He carefully cradled Rossi's head in his arms as he pleaded with him to wake up. Even when he heard the whine of the siren coming closer, he didn't feel any relief. The ambulance screeched to a halt in front of Detective Harsh and two paramedics sprung out of the cab.

"Do you know if he has been feeling sick?" The female paramedic looked up at Detective Harsh as she rushed over towards the prone person. She quickly started swabbing the crook of Rossi's elbow with an alcohol pad, preparing him for an IV. She could feel the heat rising from his body, indicating a high fever. The male paramedic cut open Rossi's shirt, attaching electrodes onto his bare chest. After watching the numbers pop up, the paramedic slipped an oxygen mask over his mouth with a concerned look on his face.

"I, I don't know. He's an FBI agent. I-I uh, only met him a day ago." Detective Harsh looked towards the house. He felt guilty. He didn't know the agent had felt sick or he would have gone and picked up Gianna alone. He had been the one that had been the forerunner for getting the BAU to come out and now one of the agents was heading to the hospital. "He, he coughed, um, a few times."

"We're going to transport him to the hospital now. Do you want to ride along?" The paramedics asked as they quickly rolled Rossi onto the stretcher and pulled the straps across his chest.

"Um, I'll meet you at the hospital. I have to call his team and I don't want to get in the way." Harsh grabbed his phone off the ground where he had left it after he made the 911 call. The paramedics nodded and wheeled Rossi towards the back of the ambulance, loading him up quickly and speeding off down the street.

* * *

Emily tried to casually lay her head against the cool window. She was burning up and she felt beyond awful. Her entire body ached. She hoped that JJ wouldn't fall sick with whatever she had. She flinched when the shrill ringing of JJ's phone jarred her awake. She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep.

"Oh my God, is he okay?" JJ sounded panicked as she listened to whoever was on the other end. "We'll pick up Taya and be at the hospital in twenty. Please call me if there are any updates or any changes in his condition." She stepped harder on the gas pedal as she hung up.

"What's wrong?" Emily coughed, wincing as it seared painfully through her chest. She was hoping the team would be able to spare her for a few hours so she could take a small nap. She couldn't remember the last time that she had been this sick. Her head was pounding and it felt like someone had filled her lungs with cement. "What happened?"

"Rossi collapsed. He's being taken to the hospital." JJ tried to keep her voice calm but underneath the calm, she was panicking. She hated when any member of the team was sick or in danger.

"Oh God!" Emily exclaimed, stifling a cough. She knew Rossi had been coughing earlier, but she didn't think it was anything beyond a cold. "What are they saying happened?"

"Hotch said he didn't have any details. He is heading towards the hospital now. He said he'd call me as soon as he knew more." JJ stepped on the accelerator. "Let's get Taya and hurry back to the station." She was extremely worried about her fellow agent and close friend.

* * *

"Gianna Miller has still not been found." Morgan almost growled in frustration. He didn't know where to go from here. They had spent the past four hours grilling the three women that they had in custody. Morgan was sure that none of them were the unsub.

"Where do we go from here?" JJ had lost count of how many times she had looked at the crime scene photos. She didn't know what it was, but they were missing something. "How did Gianna Miller die?" She jumped as her phone rang. She was relieved to see that it was Hotch. They'd been waiting for an update for several hours. "Hey Hotch. How is Rossi?"

"Hey. Rossi is stable. The doctors have taken quite a few vials of blood, did a chest x-ray, and he just finished his first breathing treatment. Hopefully we'll have answers soon." Rossi looked so pale. He had woken up and asked Hotch what happened, but he had fallen back asleep soon after. Hotch hoped the sleep was doing him some good and healing him. "I just wanted to update you guys." He looked down at his watch. They'd been in the ER for going on four hours now. "I'm going to call Garcia."

"She's going to be upset you didn't call her sooner." JJ couldn't resist a small smile, even with how grim the situation was. Everyone knew how overprotective Garcia was and she was going to give Hotch a chewing out about not calling her immediately about Rossi.

"I know. I've already arranged for her to be flown out here." Hotch pressed his fingers against his nose. He felt like a thousand jackhammers were hammering away inside of his head. He knew that he was probably coming down with whatever Rossi, Reid, and Emily had but as leader of the team, he knew he was going to have to press through. "Tell Emily and Reid to go to the hotel and get some sleep. I know you guys need them, but they are both sick and I don't want them to collapse. Keep me updated."

"What did Hotch say?" Reid spoke up, another cough erupting from his chest at the end of his sentence. He tried to hide the wince of pain from the rest of his team, but they all gave him sympathetic looks. His lungs hadn't felt this badly since

"He wants you and Emily to go get some sleep." Emily turned and gave JJ a look. Reid opened his mouth to argue with JJ but all that came out was a harsh cough. "No arguments. I would rather you go to the hotel for a few hours of sleep rather than see you collapse like Rossi. Seriously, go." Morgan nodded in agreement. Even though that left them severely shorthanded, it would make matters a lot worse if they all ended up in the hospital. Reid and Emily looked at each other and knew that they weren't going to win any arguments, so they just gathered their go-bags and headed for the door.

* * *

"Gianna Miller is dead." Hotch announced grimly as he stepped into the room where JJ and Morgan were sitting. Two hours had passed by since they had sent Reid and Emily to get some sleep. They were still hitting dead end after dead end. They were both exhausted and it was now late at night. JJ's whole body ached and she was freezing. She had put on her jacket but it didn't seem to touch the cold.

"What the hell?" Morgan threw his arms up in frustration as he stifled a cough. He didn't want JJ to know that he was getting sick. They really didn't have time for anyone else to get sick. If they had any hope of saving the next victim and catching the unsub, he had to push past whatever sickness he had caught. "What happened?"

"She was in the ER. They're preforming an autopsy as we speak. She came into the ER with a severe cough and shortness of breath and she went into respiratory failure." Hotch closed his eyes to steady himself as he swayed. "Is there anyone who doesn't feel sick right now?" He looked at the two agents in front of him. "Please tell me the truth."

"I feel awful Hotch." Morgan spoke up first. "I've got this cough and my body hurts." Whatever virus the team had picked up, it was nasty. He had taken the maximum allowed dose of cough syrup but it didn't seem to have made a difference.

"I'm freezing and I just feel like shit. I also am coughing." JJ added as she tucked her hands back under her arms, desperately trying to find a little bit of warmth. "How bad do you feel, Hotch?" She looked at her team leader, who looked like he was barely keeping his eyes open.

"I'm sick. We must have picked up something and given it to each other." Hotch furrowed his brow as he started to think it over. "Reid started to cough after we got here, right?" He asked, looking at Morgan.

"I noticed he was feeling sick on the way to the coroner's office. He was coughing a lot." Morgan answered. "What do you think?"

"I just have a weird feeling." He opened his mouth to continue, but he was stopped by the ringing of his phone. "Thank you for telling me." Hotch's voice was low and full of worry as he hung up the phone.

"What, what is it?" JJ's voice went up in pitch as she looked at the expression on Hotch's face.

"Gianna Miller died of TB."


	3. Going Downhill

A/N: Wow guys! Thank you so much for the positive feedback from the last chapter! Here's another chapter! ((You know the perfect time to write a Criminal Minds fanfic? During a marathon of Criminal Minds!))

* * *

"What the hell do you mean, TB?" Morgan exclaimed, hoping he had heard Hotch wrong. He snapped his head to the left to look at JJ. JJ had slumped back in her chair, an expression of horror on her face. The devastation that she felt was written all over her face.

"She died of a very malignant strain of tuberculosis." Hotch sank into the chair next to Morgan. He didn't know what to think. Several of his team members were very sick and he had a haunting suspicion, they were going to get much sicker.

"Oh my god. Reid and Prentiss have been coughing." Morgan had a look of terror as the realization hit him. They had been sick since they got to Washington, had they all been exposed to tuberculosis? "Could we have been exposed to TB?" His voice laced with panic.

"Have anyone talked to Reid and Prentiss?" Hotch looked at the two profilers in front of him that were struggling to keep their faces from showing the terror and fear they felt. He dodged Morgan's question for now until he knew for sure.

"I'll go pick them up." Morgan was already halfway out the door, pulling his phone out of his pocket to call them.

"Meet us at the hospital." Hotch called out after him, rising to his feet as well. He looked at JJ, who numbly rose to her feet, too shaken to say anything.

* * *

Morgan jerked the wheel of the SUV to the left and squealed to a halt in front of the hotel, shutting the car off quickly as he shoved the door open. Neither Reid nor Emily were answering their phones and that panicked him.

"What rooms were set aside for the FBI?" Morgan flashed his bags at the front desk attendant. He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as he tried to control his impertinence as she clacked slowly on the keyboard in front of her.

"We didn't have enough rooms for you all to be in individual rooms. They picked up a key to room 201." She handed him a key card. Morgan had to resist ripping it from her hands as he ran down the hall and up the stairs. He banged on the door before sliding the card in the lock.

"W-What's wrong?" Emily squinted in the sudden light as she struggled to sit up. It felt like an elephant had tap danced on her the entire time she was asleep. "What, what time is it?" She tried to rub some of the sleep from her eyes as she looked at Morgan. Morgan didn't answer her as he focused in on Reid. Reid was normally an extremely light sleeper and he hadn't even budged since Morgan had come in.

"Pretty Boy?" Morgan's heart was thumping so loudly, he was sure the entire hotel could hear it. He reached a shaky hand out to Reid's still form in front of him. "Pretty Boy?" He touched Reid's arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. Morgan couldn't stop his knees from shaking as he carefully rolled Reid over. "Oh God!" He exclaimed as he took in the site before him. It felt like someone had injected every last one of his veins with ice. Blood coated the pillow underneath Reid's mouth and blood was splattered all over the bed next to him.

"What's-What's wrong?" Emily choked out between coughs as she scrambled to her feet. She let out a little shout as a wave of dizziness overcame her and she fell to her knees. Morgan turned and rushed to her side as he whipped out his phone and punched 911 faster than he ever had in his life.

"I'm at 215 Elton Road. Room 201. I'm FBI Agent Morgan and my teammate won't wake up. There's blood all over his pillow. My other team mate is very sick. Hurry! Please just hurry!" Morgan let the phone call to the ground. "Are you okay?" He put an arm underneath Emily's arm and helped her sit back on the edge of the bed before rushing back towards Reid.

"Wh-why isn't he waking up?" Emily's voice was full of panic. "Reid!" She yelled before a coughing fit overtook her. She pressed a hand against her chest as fire seared through her chest.

"Reid!" Morgan gave Reid's face a few gentle slaps while he felt for a pulse. He staggered back when he felt a faint pulse underneath his fingers. Reid's pulse was beating so fast, it felt like a fluttering butterfly racing to get out. Morgan tried to think about what he should do before realizing that he had left the line open with 911. He dove for his phone. "Hello, operator?"

"Yes sir!" The lady's voice sounded relieved. "Can you give me anymore updates on the condition of the two agents?"

"Agent Prentiss is sitting up and talking to me. She is coughing and can't walk. Agent Reid's got a really fast pulse and he won't wake up. He's coughed up a lot of blood. He won't wake up. What should I do?" Morgan tried to keep his voice from shaking.

"You need to turn Agent Reid on his side and bend his top leg so his knee is at a right angle." Morgan put the phone down and hit the speaker button so he could roll Reid. Morgan could feel the heat radiating from Reid's body through his khakis. Reid hadn't even bothered to change clothes. Emily was having a coughing fit behind him. What the hell was happening to them?

"The paramedics will be there in just a few minutes and they will evaluate him. The best thing to do is stay calm." The operator said in a soothing voice as she typed the additional information into her system so it would be relayed to the paramedics. It seemed like an eternity had passed before the paramedics came bursting into the room. Morgan hadn't stopped trying to wake up Reid, but Reid's eyes still remained closed.

"He's, uh, he's been coughing since we got here a few days ago. He's allergic to carbenicillin and he's 31 years old." Morgan tried to think of anything else that might help them. "He was infected with anthrax several years ago." Amy nodded as she took the information in. She put her stethoscope in and started listening to Reid's chest.

"How are you today?" Rowan asked Emily as he knelt in front of her. He took in her appearance. She was so pale, she was almost the same shade of white as the sheets beneath her.

"Uh, I've had better days." Emily tried to stop the coughing fit but she couldn't. She turned her head away to try to hid the wince. "Hurts." Rowan nodded sympathetically as he held up a thermometer for her to put under her tongue. He slipped a pulse ox monitor onto her finger and slid the blood pressure cuff onto her arm before the thermometer beeped that it was ready. His eyes got wide as he looked at the numbers. More paramedics came bursting into the room with a second gurney. Morgan felt his heart pang when Emily didn't even resist riding to the hospital on a gurney. That told him just how sick she was. Morgan turned back to see two of the paramedics carefully preparing to get Reid onto the gurney. After just a few seconds, they had Reid on the gurney. He was hooked up to more machines than Morgan could count. Morgan felt his heart falling as bad memories flashed in his head of anthrax and gunshot wounds. Reid could never catch a break.

"We'll be transporting them now. Do you want to follow?" One of the paramedics asked as they strapped Reid and Emily onto the gurneys. Morgan nodded as they prepared both of his team members to head towards the hospital.

* * *

"What the hell happened?" Morgan had repeated the question several times in the last four hours. He didn't really expect an answer. JJ and Hotch were in the room with him. The three of them had been quarantined away from the rest of the hospital.

"Agents Jareau, Morgan, and Hotchner?" The voice of Dr. Hanes came through the intercom in the ceiling. "We have gotten your other agents stable and ready for transport. The ambulances are here to take you to University of Washington in Seattle. It's one of the top pulmonary hospitals in the state and is much larger. They will have the equipment to treat all of you." The three let out a simultaneous loud sigh of relief. They had been on edge for the last three hours, waiting anxiously for news about their friends and teammates.

"When will we be moved?" Hotch spoke up. He looked at the clock and felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't been able to give the missing woman and unsub as much attention as he should have. The three had been brainstorming but still were hitting dead ends. Nothing seemed to make sense. The missing woman had less than twenty-four hours before she turned up dead.

"You will be moved in just a few minutes. You can go ahead and get ready. The three of you will all be going in one ambulance and the other three agents will all have their own ambulances." Dr. Hanes responded. He could tell the agents were very anxious and scared. He was glad that the agents couldn't see his face. He was scared too. He had never treated a case of tuberculosis before and this one seemed to be particularly nasty. All he could hope for is that University of Washington would be able to help them.

JJ was hugging the blanket around her tightly, almost as if she hoped that would be enough to hold her together. They were walking out towards the ambulances that would be transporting them to the bigger hospital. She couldn't recall the last time she had been this terrified. They were throwing around words like life-support and coma. This made the anthrax scare, a few years back, look tiny in comparison.

"We'll make it through." Morgan threw a comforting arm around JJ. He could see from the slump of her shoulders, that she was feeling defeated. He was terrified beyond belief, but he wanted to seem strong for JJ. This team was his family and he hated to see any of them suffering. He couldn't seem to shake the image of how he found Reid. It scared him.

"In here." Ella, one of the transporters, said in a muffled voice as she pointed towards the ambulance. She was wearing a mask that covered her entire face and was attached to an oxygen tank. The doctors were not sure how infectious this strain of tuberculosis was and they did not want to take any chances. JJ turned at the rattle of wheels behind her. The doctors were bringing out Reid, Rossi, and Emily. They were all hooked up to several monitors but she was happy to see that none of them were on ventilators.

"Morgan is right. We will pull through this." Hotch climbed into the ambulance and turned around to offer JJ a hand up. "They are strong." He slid down on the ambulance seat to make room for Morgan and JJ. Ella gave them a small wave before shutting the doors. Moments later, the ambulance roared to life and they were off.

* * *

The hospital had a special isolation ward that was designed to prevent the spread of airborne diseases. There were two separate large rooms that were set back in a hallway. Morgan, Hotch, and JJ had been put in one room and Reid, Rossi, and Emily were in the other room. Morgan couldn't tear his eyes from Reid. Reid was so pale and his hair was matted against his face in sweaty clumps. Suddenly an alarm started blaring above Reid's bed and one of the monitors started flashing. Reid started to jerk his arms, flailing at the air. The doctor reached over and jerked a waiting tray close. He injected something into Reid's IV line and Reid went limp. A nurse came over and helped open some of the packages on the table, handing a tube over to the doctor. Morgan's heart sank even further when he realized that the doctor was intubating Reid.

"Spence." JJ whispered, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes as she watched the doctor work. The doctor slid the tube down Reid's throat gently and hooked him up to the ventilator. She watched as the screen stopped flashing and she took solace in seeing the steady squiggly line that indicated that Reid's heart was still beating.

"He's strong." Hotch nodded his head and he tried to remain stoic. His head was still pounding and he was pretty sure he was getting sicker with every passing second. He turned his head when he heard a commotion in the hallway.

"Hotch! JJ! Derek!" Garcia was frantically trying to push past the police officers who had been posted to prevent the public from getting through. The two officers were being gentle but firm and trying to not let her through.

"She's okay!" Hotch yelled into the intercom. "Let her through. She's our technical analyst." Garcia fumbled in her pocket, looking for her credentials. She pulled them out and showed them to the officer who nodded and let her pass.

"How are you?" Garcia's eyes were red and puffy and she had rubbed off most of her make-up. "I got here as fast as I could."

"We're okay, sweetness." Morgan tried to give Garcia a reassuring smile but she could tell it wasn't his normal carefree smile. Garcia looked into the faces of the three agents standing in front of her. They all had bags under their eyes and she could see from the worry in their eyes, that this was anything but 'okay'.

"No, you're not!" Garcia broke down into tears again as she pressed a hand up to the glass. Morgan replicated the gesture. "Where did you get tuberculosis? Why is this happening?"

"We don't know right now, baby girl." Morgan tried to calm Garcia down. He wished he could wrap her in a hug but he knew that wasn't possible right now. "We're going to get to the bottom of this."

"Agents Hotcher, Morgan, and Jareau?" Dr. Lancaster walked up towards the glass, still rubbing his hands dry. "I wanted to give you some updates about your teammates conditions." He turned to look at Garcia and extended his hand. "Hi, I'm Dr. Lancaster. I am the leading pulmonary specialist here. Dr. Hunter will be in shortly. He is a leading infectious disease specialist who works with the CDC. He is flying in from Georgia."

"Hi, I'm Penelope. I am the technical analyst that works with them." She shook his hand and gave him a weak smile. "What can you tell us? What do you know?" Garcia bit her lip to stop the stream of questions. She did not want to overwhelm the doctor.

"Agents Rossi and Prentiss are holding their own on nasal cannulas. We have them hooked to several different machines to make sure that their heart and oxygen rates remain satisfactory. Unfortunately, with Dr. Reid's previous anthrax attack, his lungs have been seriously scarred and he wasn't able to maintain his oxygen levels. We intubated him to allow his lungs to recuperate." Dr. Lancaster paused, looking to see if anyone had a question.

"Is he going to make it?" Garcia walked the few feet over to where Emily, Reid, and Rossi were laying and pressed her forehead against the glass, willing Reid to get better. His cheeks were sunken in. Her eyes jerked over to Emily when she heard Emily start to cough.

"We're trying to get the right medication combination worked out. They haven't responded to the first line of antibiotics that we have tried. The rifampin and ethambutol are generally extremely effective but I am afraid we might be dealing with a mutated strain."

"What gives you that idea?" Hotch spoke up, his brow furrowed. He was having a harder and harder time focusing on what was going on in front of him. "I, I really do not feel well." He put a hand against the wall to steady himself as the world started to spin around him.

"Hotch!" Morgan exclaimed as he moved forward, jerking forward at the last second to catch Hotch when Hotch's body went limp and he fell forward. "Help me!" He yelled out. He looked out towards the glass and Dr. Lancaster was already halfway into his hazmat suit. Two nurses were following suit, their fingers flying over the various zippers. Morgan barely had time to get Hotch lowered to the ground and the medical team was rushing in.

"Get him onto the bed." Dr. Lancaster and the nurses worked to get Hotch onto the bed and had him hooked up to a few monitors quickly. "His oxygen levels are dropping." Dr. Lancaster tilted his head to look at the sheet that was printing out. "Let's start him on an IV drip and start him on an oxygen mask. He's okay still, his oxygen levels just dropped and between exhaustion and dehydration, his body demanded he stop."

"He's okay?" Garcia wasn't sure how her body still had tears to cry, but she couldn't seem to stop crying. "Please tell me he's okay!" A part of her still wanted to believe that this was a nightmare and she was going to wake up.

"He's not out of the woods, but he's a fighter." Dr. Lancaster didn't want to lie. He could tell the agents in front of him were all fighters and strong, but tuberculosis was nasty and they were all in for the fight of their lives.


	4. Scary

A/N: I'm sorry that I've abandoned this story but here is an update!

* * *

To an innocent bystander, Hotch looked like he was sleeping peacefully. He was holding his oxygen level steady so they had taken off the oxygen mask. The doctor was trying to preserve any medical interventions as long as they could. They were not sure what course this infection would take.

"We're going to make it through this." Morgan tried to say with authority, but his face was full of uncertainty. JJ wanted to believe him, but watching her teammates collapsing, one by one, was terrifying. She didn't know if she was going to be next or if she would die without saying goodbye to her family.

"We need to figure out who is behind this." Hotch mumbled, causing JJ and Morgan to jump. He still had his eyes shut but had obviously regained consciousness. It shocked him how quickly this disease had

"How are you feeling?" Morgan asked, moving closer to stand next to Hotch. Hotch's face was still withdrawn but he did not look as pale as he did before.

"I've been better. My eyelids are so heavy." Hotch admitted. He wanted to say that he felt fine, but he knew that no one was going to believe that. His head was pounding and his chest felt like an elephant was tap dancing on it. He licked his lips. They felt so dry.

"Here's some water." JJ poured a glass of water and handed it to Hotch. Hotch took it with a nod of appreciation and took a few sips. It soothed the dry fire that had built up in his throat while he was asleep.

"Anything new happen while I was out?" Hotch scanned the other room that contained the second half of the team. He glanced at the time and was shocked that he had been out for almost four hours. He remembered falling towards the floor but the lack of hurting body parts told him that someone had caught him before he fell. He figured it was Morgan and would have to thank him later for that.

"Nothing new, but we're just trying to figure out how this happened and why." Morgan ran his hand over his head. This was such a nightmare and they were in the dark. He tried to stop the cough that was trying to push past his lips but failed and ended up doubled over with the searing pain in his chest as he coughed. "Damn." He muttered when he finally was able to get the oxygen back into his lungs. Each cough felt like he was being slammed in the chest with a jack hammer.

"You should sit." JJ quietly suggested. Morgan nodded, deciding that fighting her wasn't worth the energy. He sank down on the bed. He wished he was in his own bed at home. He was exhausted, like he had just finished racing in a triathlon. He wondered how much longer he could put off sleeping.

"We have got to figure this out. Who has the means to pull off something like this? How did we get infected?" Emily spoke from the other room, her voice sounded like it was being run through a cheese grater. Her eyes looked glazed over as she heaved herself onto her side so she could see most of the team. She didn't think she could manage to sit up.

"Let's start from the beginning." Rossi let out a harsh cough as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. He brought his hand up to make the tickle in his nostrils go away but he realized he was on oxygen and dropped his hand. He caught a glimpse of his oxygen saturation number and knew it was doing him some good. "Have they tested the places we have been since here? Is anyone else infected?"

"We are in process of testing every person who has been in the precinct since your arrival here." Dr. Lancaster spoke up from outside of the isolation rooms. He had heard the team talking and had stepped closer. "So far, no one has shown any sign of infection. The only outlier is Gianna Miller. We're not quite sure how she was exposed at this point." It took the team half a second to remember why the name sounded familiar. It was definitely part of the reason behind why they were infected.

"That's good but that means we were purposely infected." Rossi turned to look at Reid and couldn't help but cringe at the breathing tube that was emerging from his mouth. The kid was much too young to die but had been at death's door way too many times. "We should start pinpointing locations where we could have been infected."

"I think I could get you guys some maps and pens." Dr. Lancaster added and walked away. He knew he wasn't dealing with any ordinary patients. This was the elite FBI's Behavior Analysis Unit and they all needed to pull through. The country relied on them to put away the worst of the worst criminals and he wasn't going to let them die without giving this everything he had. He just wished he knew what this strain was so he could treat it properly.

"What can I do?" Garcia piped up from her spot. The hospital staff had very quickly figured out that there was no way to make her leave and had supplied her with a gurney and bedside table for her to work on. She had changed into a pair of soft pants and a t-shirt to be more comfortable. She had huge bags under her eyes from crying and lack of sleep.

"I don't even know." JJ was relieved that no one around the team had been infected but it was a long list of people who would want revenge on the team. They put away so many unsubs, unsubs who had families and friends who might want to seek revenge. "We can't let Spence die." She choked on the last word and a tear rolled down her cheek as she looked at her best friend. He was so tiny beneath the sheets.

"We're not going to think about that. We need to focus on figuring out who is behind this. If it is a mutated strand, we're going to need samples for the proper treatment." The team turned to focus on Hotch's words. Even when he was sick, his voice still commanded authority. "Garcia, let's start with narrowing down to people who have access to tuberculosis. It could be either a government or a laboratory setting."

"Sir, that is going to be thousands." Garcia already had the search engine pulled up as she began typing. Hotch nodded knowingly. They had to start somewhere but it felt like they were looking for a needle in a hay stack. "What about a region?"

"Try searching for any employee related to an unsub that we have arrested in the last ten years?" Emily threw out an extra sport parameter as she yawned. Every joint in her body was on fire. She knew that she was running a fever. She managed to yank the extra blanket at the end of her bed over herself and she couldn't fight the sleep anymore.

"That is going to take me a few minutes. I have to run all these names through multiple databases." Garcia pursed her lips as she let her fingers flow across the keyboard. She was going to find who hurt her team and make them pay, no matter how long it took. Rossi fell back in bed and let his eyes fall shut.

"I'm going to catch a few minutes of sleep." Morgan coughed again, making Garcia wince, as he laid down and pulled the blanket over him. He hadn't realized how cold he was until the warmth of the blanket enveloped him. Hotch's breathing was already evening out as he slipped back to sleep. JJ nodded and climbed into the other bed. Her head had barely hit the pillow before her eyes closed.

* * *

Alarms blaring jerked Morgan, JJ, Hotch, and Rossi out of their sleep as they all pulled themselves up to sitting positions. They frantically looked around, trying to find the source of the obnoxious sound. Their eyes locked almost simultaneously when they found the source of the alarms. Emily was choking and gagging in her sleep as blood spewed from her mouth. Dr. Lancaster and several of his nurses were already in their suits, rushing into the room, as Morgan forced himself out of his bed and pressed up against the glass to see better.

"Get me suction and an ambu bag!" Dr. Lancaster yelled as he reached Emily's bedside. Her eyes snapped wide open and she brought her hands up to her throat in a desperate attempt to get some air. "We're going to help you Agent. Just relax." He said as soothingly as he could as the nurses ran to get him the correct equipment.

"Emily!" Garcia sobbed as she ran towards the room. She didn't even know what to say as she saw the horror unfolding in front of her eyes. Emily was trying not to fight with the doctor and his nurses but was failing in her panic.

"We're going to give you a sedative to help you sleep. It's going to be okay." Dr. Lancaster made a snap decision to put Emily under. He would intubate her as soon as she relaxed. Emily shook her head frantically. What if she didn't wake up? "You'll be able to fight this infection more effectively if you're asleep." Dr. Lancaster tried to reassure his patient as he watched her choking on her own blood. She gave a small nod and the nurse injected a sedative into her IV. It took only a few moments to work before Emily's eyelids closed and she was asleep. Dr. Lancaster worked quickly to clear the blood away that he could and intubated her.

"She's going to make it, right?" Garcia's voice jumped an octave as she watched one of her closest friends slipping away. "She's going to make it, right?" No one answered her as they watched the terrifying scene. The team was dropping quick and nobody knew how to stop it.

"Hey guys, I think I have something." Garcia's voice broke through the quiet that had consumed the hospital wing for the past hour. After Emily's downhill slide, the team had been lost in their thoughts. "I ran all of the searches that you asked me and then took a few liberties to try to narrow down the results. First off, there are a scary number of people that are able to access tuberculosis or other biohazards. Second, I ran through every family member and friend through the search base and came up with still too many names so I added it would have to be someone who would have potential access to us and we are down to five names." Garcia rattled off.

"Good work Garcia." Hotch gave Garcia a small head nod of appreciation. "What are the five names?" He pulled his bedside table over his bed, grabbed the pad of paper and pen that the hospital had given to him and got ready to write. His team was getting sicker by the minute and he could not afford to waste any time.

"Jade Gregory is an infectious disease scientist with the CDC. We arrested her step-brother's cousin three years ago. Michael Jones works on cleanup crew for a laboratory that deals with all types of infectious diseases. His mother's girlfriend was arrested from a profile we gave six years ago." Garcia paused to make sure Hotch was able to write everything down. It was weird how much they had become reliant on the technology that they used to solve crimes. "Jessup Myers works as a research scientist in a genetic lab and we arrested his brother-in-law, Greg James, four years ago."

"Greg James? Why does that name sound so familiar?" Rossi interrupted Garcia from his prone position in bed. His brain felt so foggy right now. It was hard to fathom how sick they were and the scary thought that one of them might die. That all of them might die if the antibiotics they were all on didn't work. "Why does that name sound so familiar?" Rossi was so weak, he wasn't sure he could sit up on his own right now, but he was positive that name sounded familiar.

"His sister is married to one of the pilots employed by us." Garcia answered as she typed it into the search box. She hadn't done much digging beyond finding the five names because she wanted to make sure she didn't go down a rabbit hole and research the wrong information. She knew her team was relying on her to help find out who was behind all of this. "He's one of the pilots that flew us out here. His name is Brandon Haddox."

"Find him, immediately." Hotch's voice had more power behind it than Garcia had heard since this nightmare had started. If Greg James was still close to his sister, he might have been influenced to do something bad. Families sometimes found themselves able to overlook their own morals to help their family members. Hotch's mind was starting to put together pieces of the puzzle that Greg James fit into perfectly.

"I'll get the local police on the phone. We're going to find this son-of-a-bitch." Garcia had her phone in her hand and was dialing the number for the detective. Even if it took until her last breath, she would not rest until this bastard was behind bars, or dead.

"Who are the other two names?" Morgan chimed in. JJ nodded as she listened quietly. Each breath that she took was a little bit harder. It felt like someone had a vice grip on her trachea and was only letting through the bare minimum amount of air.

"Um, Jeffrey Myers and Brennan Yung." Garcia consulted the list she had compiled. "Jeffrey and Brennan are both research scientists for private companies that deal with a wide spectrum of biohazards." She shuddered as she thought about some of the dangerous drugs and diseases that these people had access too. If they got into the wrong hands, millions of people could die. Garcia wished she could retreat back to her office at Quantico, surrounded by bright colors and fluffy animals but she knew her team needed her here.

"We definitely need to find all of these people and check them out. One of these men attacked our team." Garcia nodded and turned back to her phone. Hotch closed his eyes, the remainder of his energy spent.

* * *

"We're running out of time." A muffled voice broke through Hotch's dreams. He cracked his eyes to see the doctor and two nurses hovering over Reid's bed. They were doing some sort of adjustment on the tubes running of Reid's body. Hotch did feel a tiny bit of relief when he heard the steady beep coming from the monitor next to Reid's bed that indicated that his heart was still beating.

"What's going on?" Hotch's voice came out hoarse. He forced his eyes all the way open. He glanced over at the clock to see only thirty minutes had passed since he had closed his eyes. Time was starting to melt together inside of the hospital ward. There were no windows in the isolation rooms, only special light bulbs that were supposed to help prevent pathogen growth.

"Dr. Reid is not doing well." Dr. Lancaster's tone was very grim. He did not want to make the situation seem anything but what it was, extremely dire. "His kidney and liver values are looking worse by the hour. His body is starting to shut down. He can't keep up with fighting this infection." The doctor looked down at the agent in front of him. His skin was pale but starting to have a slight yellow hue to it, signs that his liver was no longer working properly.

"What? No!" Tears welled up in JJ's eyes before spilling down her cheeks. It was always Spence. He was so young but always seemed to have to fight the hardest battles.

"We're going to do everything that we can do help him." Dr. Lancaster tried to give the agents a little bit of encouragement. He didn't want to promise anything that he couldn't guarantee and at this point, he wasn't sure the young agent would pull through. His body was already so damaged from a previous brush with anthrax and other injuries he had suffered in the line of duty.

"Thank you." Morgan whispered, unable to say anything else. As much as he wanted to yell at the doctor, he knew it wouldn't do any good. This wasn't Dr. Lancaster's fault. They were going to find the son of a bitch who had caused all of this and make them pay. He was going to make sure that this crime did not go unpunished.

"Now that you're all awake, I have an update." Garcia tried to keep her voice perky. She was on the verge of breaking down. Once everyone's eyes were on her, she nodded and started to talk. "Okay, so the police were able to find the pilot. They also tracked down the other four names. All four had an alibi. The pilot, Greg James, is refusing to talk but they're still working on him. The police are now hunting for James's sister."

"What about the murders that we were asked to help solve?" Morgan piped up after a moment of thought. In the tornado of activity that had started since they got sick, he had honestly almost forgotten about the murdered girls. It wasn't that the girls weren't important, but the whirlwind of activity that seemed to never stop since the word 'tuberculosis' had been uttered had taken precedence. "Is this connected?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry beautiful. I'll find out." Garcia picked up the phone again. She was only on the phone for a few minutes as she talked to the lead detective on the case. "They have not made any headway on the murders. They're stuck but they lack the technology and manpower to solve a case of this magnitude. They're a small town." She wished that she had better news to give the team because she knew that they were going to feel guilty about the case.

"They needed our help and we're here." JJ muttered, half under her breath. She had been the one who said they should take this case. She was the one that had shown it to Hotch. She was the reason that Reid might die. This was her fault. If Reid died, if any of them died, it would be her fault.

"We are still going to help them." Hotch could see the guilt on JJ's face but he felt so much guilt; he didn't know what to say. The team was his responsibility to keep safe, even in their hazardous line of work."What happened to the women we went to check on?" He was trying to will his brain to work harder but his high fever was leaving him feeling hazy.

"Three of them were found dead but the one is still missing." Garcia was able to tell the team after a few minutes. She knew her team was the best out there and even fighting for their own lives, they would figure out who the unsub was.

"The one who is missing is our unsub. What is her name?" Rossi wanted to be able to close the case. He did not want to see any more women die but he wasn't sure what exactly what was going on right now.

"Gianna Miller." Garcia typed her name into the search engine, determined to help track down this woman. "Oh my God." Garcia felt like an idiot. She could not believe that she had not figured this out before. She was supposed to be the best at her job and right now, she felt like this was her first day on the job. She couldn't believe she had missed something that was so glaringly obvious.

"What is it, Garcia?" JJ asked, curious about what had gotten Garcia so upset.

"It's an alias. Her name is Sarah James Haddox."


	5. Coming Together

A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews, follows, and favoriting!

* * *

Morgan was positive that the clock in front of him needed new batteries. It felt like they had been waiting for an eternity to see if the police had been able to track down Greg James. Greg had never checked into the hotel room that had been provided for him. He had simply walked out of the airport and disappeared into thin air. Now every available officer and agent had swarmed to the local police station to help in any way that they could. News of the attack on the BAU had hit the news and the phone calls, emails, and texts had started flooding in. Garcia had fielded calls from family members of the team. Morgan's mom had sobbed on the phone, begging for someone to take care of her baby, and asked for updates. Jessica had promised she would not let Jack see the news and had kept him home from school in case someone at school said something. Emily's mother had managed to maintain her composure, but told Garcia she _would_ be on the next available jet out there. Garcia knew not to argue. Will had been panicked on the phone, trying to find someone to watch Henry so he could come out and assist the search, disregarding all of Garcia's objections that he would be better to stay put with Henry. Garcia had relayed to the team that the locals had taken their advice and kept their base team small but had split up the remaining officers and agents into search teams.

"They think they might have tracked Greg and his sister down!" Garcia's voice had more pep to it than it had since she had arrived in Seattle. She had just hung up with FBI Special Agent Pressley. The FBI had flown in a special team to help head up the team that was going to track down Greg. "They think he is holed up in an abandoned warehouse on the edge of Seattle and are on their way now!" She wanted desperately for this to be the right place. She hoped that Greg would slip up and be somewhere that the team could easily find him.

"That's amazing news!" Rossi exclaimed happily from his bed, trying not to get too optimistic yet. Rossi knew all too well how many times it could be a dead end before the police and FBI got a real lead. He knew how many times they could go bust down a door or storm a business and the unsubs would not be there. Rossi was never going to complain about having a cold, or even the flu, ever again. Having tuberculosis was like having a dozen elephants tap dancing on his chest while his nose was pinched close and he was trying to breathe through a straw. He hoped that this lead be a good one, because the sooner that they found James, the sooner they could get everyone on the road to recovery.

"I- I need help." JJ managed to choke out between wheezes as the monitor over her head started letting out a high-pitched whine. "I-" Her next sentence was cut off as her eyes rolled back into her head and she flopped back onto her pillow. Her lips starting to turn blue as her chest heaved frantically in a desperate effort to try to get oxygen back in her lungs. Dr. Lancaster came bursting out of a door a few feet away, running towards the entrance of the isolation unit. His hair was disheveled and it was obvious he had been trying to catch a little bit of sleep.

"Hang on Agent Jureau! We're on our way!" Dr. Lancaster's hands moved with a practiced speed to him inside the hazmat suit and he was punching the button by the isolation door in a matter of a minute. The nurses were only a few steps behind him as they finished zipping up their suits. There wasn't much talking in the next five minutes as they worked seamlessly together to place a tube down JJ's throat and hooked her up to the extra machines that she needed to stay alive. "She's stable for now." Dr. Lancaster turned to look at the other agents. They were all frozen with horrified looks on their faces. Morgan wasn't sure how much more of this his heart was going to take. The sickness was awful, but watching his friends dying in front of his face was worse. "I've given her a light sedative so that her body doesn't have to work so hard."

"JJ." Garcia whispered as tears leaked from her eyes. Her best friends were dying and there wasn't a thing she could do to stop it. She pressed her hands against the glass wall that separated her from one of her closest friends as she sobbed. She willed some of her healthy energy towards her friends. She wanted to do nothing more than run into the room with them and give them hugs or hold their hands, but there was no reason in risking anyone else contracting the disease. She had kept a vigilant post outside their rooms and had no plans to go anywhere until her entire team walked out with her.

"We've got to catch that son of a bitch!" Rossi said, with as much force as he could muster. His brain was spinning as he thought about how nice he had always been to Greg. He had seemed so normal. The entire team always made sure to give each of their pilots a generous bonus at Christmas for all the time they dedicated to making sure the team got where they needed to go. This still felt like a terrible nightmare in some ways and he wished he could wake up. It seemed like there was no one in the world you could trust anymore.

"Guys!" Garcia leapt out of her seat as she came barreling up to the glass. "I have great news!" She had tried so hard to keep a smile on her face for her friends but now, she wasn't faking it. "The warehouse was not a dead end. James is inside and they will be taking him into custody shortly."

"That is amazing news!" Rossi felt a huge wave of relief washing over him. Once they had James in custody, they could start to get to the bottom of this nasty Tuberculosis strain. He tried to quiet the tiny voice in the back of him head that told him they might have not have made a cure. He had been in the FBI for a lengthy time now and grimly thought to himself, that sometimes there wasn't a cure or good news. The tiny voice in the back of his head was telling him that there was a chance he, and his whole team, might die from tuberculosis.

"They've got to proceed carefully." Hotch's voice was slightly muffled now. His oxygen levels had started to dip and the doctor had demanded that he supplement with an oxygen mask. "Extensive planning has gone into this." His head was full of thousands of different scenarios on what could happen next. His running theory right now was that Greg and Sarah had planned to attack the team to get revenge on the BAU for arresting Sarah's husband. Sarah must have accidentally caught tuberculosis while they were making the mutated strain, so Greg had turned her into another victim to try to cover his tracks and complete their plan. He was hoping that there might be a cure because the co-pilot, nor Greg were sick. He did not know if any of this was correct, but this is what his gut was telling him.

"I want to take a shot at that son of a bitch." Morgan's voice was weak but still full of anger. "How quickly will we know if there is a cure?" He wished he felt up to interrogating someone, because Greg wouldn't stand a chance against him. He wanted to get revenge for all of the pain and suffering his friends were undergoing. Morgan wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to go without some kind of intervention. He could see the numbers on his monitor starting to fall outside of the acceptable ranges and could see it was only a matter of time.

"They're going to interrogate them immediately." As far as Garcia was concerned, these people did not deserve any decency or basic human rights, so the FBI and police could do whatever they wanted to them until they got the cure. She didn't know what would drive someone to commit such a heinous act but it meant they had no conscious and whatever happened to them was justified. She gazed forlornly at her sick friends, yearning more than anything for them to be healthy. For now, it was just a nasty waiting game until there was more information.

* * *

_4 Hours Later_

Garcia was pacing in the hallway, her face streaked with tears. Rossi's oxygen levels had dropped low enough that the doctors had been forced to intubate him. Every time her eyes closed, she could see him choking on his own blood as he was intubated and sedated. She didn't even want to know how many tubes and machines were being used. Morgan and Hotch both were wearing oxygen masks but Garcia could see how pale they were and silently wondered how much time they had left before they succumbed to the tuberculosis. Both of them were sleeping but there were beads of sweat on their foreheads and their chests were rising too quickly for it to be a good sleep.

"Ms. Garcia, can I talk to you over here?" Dr. Lancaster nodded to the conference room just across the hall. Garcia nodded and followed the doctor into the conference room. She knew that this wasn't a happy meeting. "I'm afraid that we're not going to be able to save Dr. Reid and Agent Jureau."

"What do you mean?" Garcia bit down on her bottom lip as she tried to hold back her tears. She had these special spots in her heart for each of the members of the team and it felt like someone had just shot her a thousand times in each of those spots. "You're the doctor. You can fix them!"

"Unfortunately, this strain of tuberculosis is extremely aggressive. I'm not sure why Agent Jureau is reacting as badly as she is. With Dr. Reid's history with anthrax, I'm sorry to say, I'm not surprised." Dr. Lancaster wished he had better news to give the technical analyst in front of him. He could tell that the bonds between the members of this team were unbreakable and this disease was tearing her apart. "If we don't hear from the police about a cure in the next few hours, I think you and I will have to start making some decisions on what we will do."

"I can't do that." Garcia sank to the ground, her legs giving out underneath her. She couldn't, she wouldn't, make these decisions. "I, I can't do that." She repeated because she didn't know what else to say. She couldn't make a decision on whether they helped Reid with extraordinary measures or let him go. She couldn't decide if there would be a time limit on how long they kept him around or how long they did CPR on him.

"I'm so sorry. Can I bring you anything? You haven't slept or eaten in a long time." Dr. Lancaster checked his watch. He made a mental note to keep a close eye on Garcia. He didn't want her to pass out or become dehydrated. "How about we get you some tea and dinner?" Garcia nodded as the tears started falling. She wasn't hungry but she knew she needed to try to eat something. "Why don't you stay in here? I'll roll a cot in and maybe you can get a little bit of rest?" He tried to make it sound more forceful than just a suggestion. "I'll bring you some dinner in an hour." Garcia's lips didn't seem to want to obey her command to thank the doctor, but he gave her a knowing nod when they made eye contact. A few minutes later, they rolled in a cot with an extra blanket and pillow. Before she even took off her glasses, she was fast asleep.

The shrill ringing of a phone startled Garcia from her sleep. She jerked straight up on the cot, grasping at her face to straighten her glasses as she tried to focus on who was calling her. It was Detective Harsh. She felt her heart start racing as she answered with just a short "Garcia?" She noted she had only been asleep for about fifteen minutes.

"I have fantastic news!" Detective Harsh didn't waste any time because he knew that there was nothing better he could say than something positive. "Sarah was making a cure before she died. We've turned over the research to the CDC and they're confident they can finalize the cure within a few hours. All of the information they need on this specific mutation was hidden inside of the house registered to Gianna Miller. Also, there is more fantastic news! The bug had a suicide chain attached to it. There is no chance that the agents can infect anyone else. I'm going to escort the cure to your team personally."

"Thank you." Garcia managed to get out between the sobs as tears started dropping from her eyes for an entirely different reason. There would be a cure. She could go in and hold their hands. Everyone was going to be okay now. "Thank you." She said it once more before hanging out and standing up. "Dr. Lancaster?" She called as she came out from the conference room. Dr. Lancaster was making some notes in the computer but stood up immediately and walked over to her.

"Is everything okay?" He gave her a quick once over with his eyes. She still had bags under her eyes but had a sparkle in her eyes that he hadn't ever seen before.

"They're finalizing the cure now! They're not contagious! I can go in!" Garcia beamed as she looked towards the rooms. "The bug had a, um, suicide chain?" She said questioningly, she wasn't sure that she had said that right. Dr. Lancaster let out a huge sigh of relief as he looked skyward. Garcia rushed towards the door, reminding herself she needed to be quiet and calm as she pressed the button to allow herself in. She looked at the six members in front of her and decided that Reid needed her the most. She carefully moved a chair into the room with him and sat down next to him, clutching his clammy hand in hers. "Reid, baby, I just need you to hold on. They're getting the cure together now and it will be here soon. Just keep fighting and you're going to be better."


	6. Deep Breath

A/N: Hopefully not rushed, but I don't want to drag it out! Enjoy! Please let me know if you see any spelling or typos… It's about 2 AM and I'm exhausted!

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Garcia had switched chairs faithfully every ten minutes between all of her team members as she watched the clock tick by. Morgan had tried to mumble something when Garcia grabbed his hand the first time, but hadn't been able to wake up. His body was burning up. Normally Garcia would be able to say something snarky or silly about that, but right now, it was the furthest thing from her mind. Garcia had no idea if any of her friends knew that she was there, but she hoped they could feel her presence. She kept checking her phone, hoping for an update from Detective Harsh, but she knew he wouldn't call unless he had some good news.

"We're here!" Detective Harsh led the large group that came bursting through the doors into the ward. A team of twelve white lab coat clad people followed him. They toted several oversized coolers behind them. Garcia couldn't help but grin. Those coolers held the life-saving cure for her friends. These people were here to save her friends. She had never been so happy to see the CDC in her life.

"What can I do to help?" Dr. Lancaster stepped towards the group. He reached out to shake hands with all twelve of the doctors and lab technicians. They exchanged quick introductions, knowing extended pleasantries could wait until they had the cures administered.

"We'll need as many bags of saline as you can bring us and six more IV infusion machines please. After that, any additional information you have on each patient will be helpful." One of the women spoke up first. Her voice was crisp and calm, used to having to work under pressure and high-stakes situations. They moved towards the isolation doors, not wanting to waste any time.

"You guys are here to save my friends?" She asked the half of the group that came into the isolation room she was in. They had this of determination that comforted Garcia. While there had been no time for trials on the cure, she was confident that this would work.

"We're going to do everything we can. We have the cure. It will be up to their bodies to do the rest. They're far from out of the woods." One of the doctors addressed Garcia, not wanting to sugar coat the truth. The numbers that he had seen on their preliminary blood work showed some extremely scary numbers.

"Thank you." Garcia didn't know what else to say. She knew her friends were fighters and strong but she could see the strain that this illness had taken on them. Their bodies were weak and strained from fighting tuberculosis. She quickly stepped out of the isolation unit, not wanting to hinder the CDC at all. The rooms were tight spaces already and she was an extra, unnecessary body.

"They're tough." Detective Harsh didn't know what else to say. He hadn't met the people in front of him until a few days ago but he could already tell what an extraordinary group of people they were, including the woman who was now standing next to him. He wasn't normally one for praying, but he had been saying his prayers the last few days.

"I'm just worried. Reid's lungs are weak." Garcia couldn't stop one lone tear from rolling down her cheek. She had seen Reid behind glass walls with an intubation tube down his throat too many times. She hoped against hope, every time it happened, that it would never happen again.

"He's a fighter. The doctors will do all they can to help him." Detective Harsh was used to having to comfort families, but it was always harder when it was someone he was connected to. The two stood together as they watched the CDC team members scurry around the rooms in front of them. It was like watching a television show unfold in front of them. The group broke into two-person teams and pointed and talked quickly as they hooked up all of the team members to additional machines and started pushing needles full of medicine into the machines.

It was almost two hours before everyone walked from their isolation wards. There was a collective sigh of relief as the doctors and lab technicians leaned against counters and sat down in chairs, finally able to relax. Garcia could tell how exhausted they were by the wrinkles around their eyes and beads of sweat on their foreheads.

"We will not know for a little bit longer if the cure is working, but we have finished with giving the cure. They'll need oral antibiotics after this and chest x-rays once they go home. I am most worried about Agent Reid-"

"Doctor. He's a doctor." Garcia couldn't help but pipe up. It was one of everyone on the team's personal pet peeves. Reid had worked hard for all of his PhDs.

"I apologize, Dr. Reid. His lungs were already scarred and damaged from the anthrax attack. I have consulted with Dr. Kimura and we have a treatment plan in place for him, but it's unfortunately a waiting game." The doctor continued with a serious look in his face.

"Do you think he's going to wake up?" Garcia felt her heart sinking. She didn't want to imagine life without her junior G-man. "He's so strong." She had seen Reid come back from being shot, kidnapped, and anthrax.

"He is really strong." The doctor reassured Garcia with a comforting squeeze of her shoulder. "We will have to wait and see." Garcia just nodded numbly. She didn't know what else to say.

"I'm going to go sit with my friends again." Garcia said as she started back towards the door. No one knew what else to say. Her entire life was inside of those rooms. She started with Reid. She slid quietly into the chair next to him and grabbed his hand carefully. "Hey Reid." She greeted him. She didn't know if he could hear her but it was worth a shot. "Reid, they're saying scary words, like you might not wake up. You are stronger than they know. You're tougher than even Morgan, but don't you dare tell him I said that. You have to wake up. You are going to wake up. You'll pull through, I know it." Tears kept leaking from Garcia's eyes as she gazed at the youngest member of the team. She laid her head down next to his hand and closed her eyes.

* * *

"Ms. Garcia?" Garcia jerked awake and stood quickly as an unfamiliar hand touched her shoulder. "I'm sorry that I scared you. Agent Hotchner is waking up and is quite agitated. We were wondering if you could come help calm him down?"

"Of course!" Garcia almost tripped over the chair leg as she started to move towards the other isolation unit. She glanced at the clock and saw that almost five hours had passed. Her back gave off a nasty twinge as a reminder that she had slept slumped over the bed, but she didn't stop moving. "Hotch! Hotch, it's Garcia!" She hurried over to his head. There were four people trying to hold down Hotch's flailing arms and legs as a machine beeped loudly in the background. They could not risk Hotch pulling out the various wires and tubes that emerged from his body. Suddenly the jerky movements stopped as he focused in on Garcia. He took a deep breath and nodded at her, signaling that he knew who she was. "Hotch, you're okay. We're in Seattle. You're okay." The loud beeping stopped as Hotch relaxed.

"Agent Hotchner, I'm Dr. Young. I helped create the cure that is saving you. You cannot pull out these tubes or take the oxygen off of your face. My teammates are holding you down so you don't impair your recovery." Dr. Young stepped next to Hotch. He knew he wasn't a familiar face to Agent Hotchner and was glad Ms. Garcia was there to help calm him down. They didn't want to have to medically sedate him.

"How-what happened?" Hotch's voice was scratchy, but it was there. "Did they get Greg?" He was foggy on the details towards the end. He thought he remembered talking to Garcia about trying to capture Greg James but he couldn't remember. Trying to pull his memories together was like trying to read fine print at the bottom of a murky river.

"We caught Greg. They made a cure! Do you feel better?" Garcia didn't want to overwhelm Hotch with all of the details yet. Hotch's cheeks actually had some color in them and that gave her a lot of hope. She had to resist grabbing him in a hug. Hotch was not a big fan of being hugged or touched, but having him talking and healing, gave her great joy.

"Glad he's in custody." Hotch kept his reply short. He had a thousand questions running through his head but they would have to wait. "I feel better." He did a quick rundown of his body. He figured the throbbing in his right arm and wrist area was from the IVs and his throat was really sore. His chest didn't feel quite so tight and it didn't take a monumental effort to get oxygen into his lungs. It was still not easy yet and he wouldn't be running a marathon any time soon, but he could tell that he felt better. "Water?" He looked around but didn't see any cups.

"Hang on!" Garcia rushed out of the room and came back with a pitcher and a little cup. "Doc said not too much." She said apologetically as she filled the cup up halfway. She started to hand the cup to him but changed her mind halfway through. "Don't argue." She saw his mouth start to protest. She held the cup up to his lips and Hotch drank it gratefully. He nodded his thanks, trying to save his voice. He blinked a few more times and started to look around the room. "You're the first to wake up." Garcia answered his unasked question.

"I'm going to take your vitals." One of the nurses, Garcia had lost track of the names a long time ago, came into the unit, pressing the button for hand sanitizer as she grabbed the thermometer and blood pressure cuff off of a nearby table. Garcia moved out of the way. The nurse had Hotch take several deep breaths and listened to his heart several times before she nodded her head with a smile on her face. "These are much better!" She exclaimed happily as she scribbled down the numbers. "I'm glad you're healing, Agent Hotchner." She gave him a pat on the leg as she headed down to JJ's bed.

"Oh no." Hotch managed to get out when he realized how much equipment surrounded JJ. He knew that the tube that ran out of her mouth was a really bad sign. He looked at Morgan and was relieved to see he was still breathing on his own, but he was still very pale.

"She's strong." Garcia felt like she had said that eight million times in the last few hours but it was true. Her team mates, her best friends, were incredibly strong and would fight this nasty disease. "Everyone has been given the cure. It will just take time to see results." Hotch just nodded. He felt his eyes beginning to grow heavy. As much as he hated to fall back asleep, he knew that his body needed the rest. After a few minutes, his breathing had evened out and he was fast asleep. Garcia smiled as she walked away. It was a huge relief to see Hotch awake. It meant that the cure was working. It would help the rest of the team. It would just be a matter of time before everyone woke up.

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A/N: It was a little shorter than I wanted, but this was a good stopping point!


	7. Your Story Isn't Over Yet

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I hope y'all like this next chapter.

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It felt like someone had placed several cement blocks on top of his lungs, making it hard to pull in deep breaths. He could feel the tickle of cold air inside of his nostrils and knew that he was getting some extra help breathing. He wanted to open his eyes, but it was like someone had clamped them shut.

"Hey sweet cheeks." Morgan hadn't realized his hands were balled up in fists, but he felt his hands relaxing as a familiar voice broke through his solo thoughts. "You're okay. You are in the hospital in Seattle. You're okay." Finally, Morgan was able to crack his eyes open. He opened his mouth to talk, but a slightly blurry Garcia shook her head. "Don't try to talk."

"Hi Agent Morgan." Morgan turned his head to see a man clad in a white lab coat. He had never seen the man before but assumed he wasn't a criminal, given Garcia's relaxed state and the stethoscope around his neck. "I'm Dr. Halstead. I helped administer the cure to you. You're going to be okay." Morgan nodded his head slowly, trying to get a better grasp of his surroundings. He slowly held up one hand like he was holding a drink, trying to ask for some water. "We'll get you some water. You have been asleep for a while." Morgan was still trying to put the story of how he got here in order. "I am going to listen to your chest a little bit." After a few minutes, Dr. Halstead seemed satisfied and started to write down some notes in his chart.

"Here honey." Garcia held up a cup with a straw. "Just a small sip, boo." She reminded him as Morgan started to sip the water. Morgan gave a small nod. The second that the cool liquid touched his lips, he had to stop himself from snatching the cup out of Garcia's hand and chugging the entire glass. It felt like it had been years since had had anything to drink.

"Thanks baby girl." Morgan's voice was gruff from lack of use and coughing, but it was the sweetest sound to Garcia's ears. She had to stop the tears of pure happiness from falling. She had been so scared that she might never hear that beautiful voice again.

"I was so scared." Garcia couldn't stop herself from carefully leaning over the bed and engulfing Morgan in a hug. She didn't want to make breathing any harder on him so she got up quickly. She kept beaming down at Morgan. He was still pale and Garcia had learned enough from looking at the monitors that the numbers still weren't perfect, but he was awake and talking.

"I'm too tough to let a little tuberculosis get me down." Morgan gave Garcia a smile. "How is everyone else?" He lifted his head off of pillow, but had to lay it back down quickly when the room started to spin.

"Hotch's woken up but the others are still out. They've all been given the cure." Garcia wasn't sure where to start, especially with the bad news. She thought that Morgan would rather hear the bad news first. "Reid and JJ are in the worst shape. They're on ventilators and not showing much sign of improvement. Emily is also on a ventilator. Rossi's still sleeping but his numbers are steady."

"That's good." Morgan couldn't stop from letting out a huge yawn. He had just woken up but it was like he had run fifteen back-to-back marathons with how exhausted he felt. Garcia grinned down at him as she gave Morgan another gentle hug. She wanted to throw her arms around him and never let him go but she knew that would just hurt him.

"Get your beauty sleep." She squeezed his IV free hand and moved away towards JJ's bed. She cringed every time she looked at JJ. There tubes coming from her mouth and out of her nose devastated Garcia. Garcia sat down next to her, looking up at the clock. There had been no change in her condition since they had administered the cure. The ventilator was doing one hundred percent of her breathing. The doctors tried to reassure Garcia that this was normal with JJ's severely compromised lung function.

"Hey Garcia." Detective Harsh greeted Garcia as he stepped into the isolation unit. He had grabbed a few hours of sleep in the small conference room. He'd been going non-stop for over three days and knew that if he didn't grab a few hours of shuteye, he'd collapse. He knew that he could get a few hours of sleep now that he had done his job. He had caught the bad guy. "How's everybody?"

"You just missed Morgan. He woke up. Hotch woke up a little bit ago. We're waiting on everyone else." Detective Harsh looked around the room. "They're going to be okay." Garcia had repeated that sentence more times than she could count. She just had to keep believing they would be okay. She had to keep telling herself that they would all wake up and be able to climb on the jet to go back home. She kept telling herself that everyone was going to be completely healthy and they'd be going back to their normal crime fighting lives.

"Ms. Garcia?" One of the doctors, Garcia had forgotten most of their names, stepped into the unit with a clipboard in her hands. Garcia stood up and walked a little closer to the doctor. "We've been carefully monitoring Agent Prentiss's vitals. We want to start slowly start decreasing the amount of sedation she's on. She's tried to take several breaths around the ventilator and that is excellent news."

"That's amazing news!" Garcia squealed in excitement as her face lit up with joy. She looked over at Emily and she could see that there did seem to be a little more color to Emily's face. "How long before she wakes up?" It was going to be such a relief to see Emily turning the corner.

"That will be up to Agent Prentiss. It can take several hours to several days." The doctor wished she had a solid answer for the woman in front of her but unfortunately, the human body could be fickle and created their own timelines. "We'll let you know if she shows any signs of waking up." They would slowly stop the drip that provided the medication that had kept Emily sleeping so her body could heal and allow her to wake. For some, the medication left their system fairly quickly and for others, the medication circulated slowly.

"Thank you." Garcia sat back down with JJ. She was trying not to be overly hopeful, since JJ and Reid were still in such serious condition, but she could see that her team was on the way to becoming healthy. She felt a rush of relief as she thought about Emily opening her eyes soon. "Do you hear that JJ? Emily's going to wake up soon. You will need to take a page from her book and start recovering."

"Hey, Garcia!" Detective Harsh exclaimed from the next room. "Look!" He pointed down at Rossi and Garcia felt her heart soar with joy when she realized his eyes were cracked. "Hey, Agent Rossi! You gave me such a scare before." He was so happy to see the agent's eyes open. He hadn't had much of a conversation with Rossi before he had collapsed, but he could tell that he was going to like him. Rossi slowly blinked a few times before his eyes fully opened.

"Hello Agent Rossi. I'm Dr. Snow. I've been treating you." The doctor introduced himself as he stepped into the room with Rossi. The entire group of doctors had been briefed on the FBI agents they were going to be treating but this was technically the first time they were meeting. Rossi nodded, not trusting himself to talk yet. He was still really groggy and knew that he was going to need more sleep before he felt normal. "I'd like to listen to your heart and the nurse is going to take your vitals." Rossi gave a short nod of approval. "I'm really happy with these numbers. How do you feel?"

"Like I drank my way through an entire liquor store." Rossi's voice was gruff but had his normal dry humor in it. "My head is pounding." He cleared his throat but it still felt like there was something in his throat, no matter how many times he tried, the lump lingered. "Something in my throat."

"We'll get you something for the headache. The lump in your throat is normal. It's residual from your coughing." The doctor scribbled a few notes in Rossi's chart. "The best thing you can do is rest. We're so happy to see you waking up. You have the cure circulating in your system and you will make a full recovery."

"Thanks." Rossi tried to keep his sentences short. He knew that he wasn't going to feel better tomorrow, but it was comforting to know that he would be better. The doctor came back quickly with a syringe with a clear liquid in it. Rossi knew that it would help take care of the headache. He did a quick inventory of the team members he could see. It made his stomach turn to see so many tubes coming from his team members. These were good people, who spent their life keeping others safe, and they'd been brought to death's door by some maniac that they thought they could trust.

"Why don't you try to get more sleep? That's the best thing for you now." Dr. Snow recommended as he pushed the medication into Rossi's IV. Rossi thought about it for a second and let his eyes close. He knew the doctor was right and his head felt like someone had let two bulldozers run rampant in his head. He fell back asleep knowing that the team was in the best hands possible.

* * *

"Reid? Reid!" Garcia screamed as she looked on in horror at the doctors swarming around Reid's bed. She sobbed as she watched them place the paddles on Reid's chest. The high pitched whine reverberated in the room. The whine that meant that Reid's heart wasn't working. Reid's chest arched off the bed as one of the doctors delivered the shock that would hopefully re-start the beating of Reid's chest. "Please don't do this!" Tears were pouring from Garcia's eyes as she watched Dr. Halstead resume compressions on Reid's chest. Hotch, Morgan, and Rossi started awake in horror to see the doctors frantically trying to force the life back into their friend and teammate.

"Try again!" Dr. Halstead grunted out as he pumped his fists down on Reid's chest. He wasn't going to let him give up without a fight. He knew this kid was brilliant and a genius and had saved thousands of lives. "Your story doesn't end here."

"Please Reid!" Garcia fell to her knees, unable to tear her eyes away from Reid's lifeless body. His arm flopped off the side of the bed from the force of the blows being delivered from the doctor who was doing everything in his power to bring Reid back. They prepared and delivered another shock to Reid's chest. "Oh thank God!" Garcia choked out, her head dropping to her chest in relief when the sounds of a steady beep filled the room. Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan all let out the breaths that they hadn't realized they were holding. They all couldn't stop the feeling of guilt that they were getting better while Reid was not improving.

"We're far from out of the woods, but we'll do everything we can." Dr. Halstead wiped the sweat from his brow as he gazed at the young agent in front of him. Dr. Reid was half of Dr. Halstead's age but had accomplished so many incredible feats. Dr. Reid had so much left to do and Dr. Halstead wasn't letting him go without a hell of a fight.


	8. Step in the Right Direction

A/N: Hope you guys enjoy this!

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Garcia knew that she should be happy about the fact that Rossi, Hotch, and Morgan had woken up. She felt like she had aged a million years in the days she had been sitting in the isolation unit, waiting for her team to recover. Her back and shoulders throbbed from sitting in the hard, plastic chairs. The broken pieces of her heart felt like it had been hastily stitched together and the pieces were barely clinging together. She would give her right foot if everyone would just wake up and be healthy again. She was trying to take solace in the fact that the man who did this was never going to be a free man again but it was hard when her teammates were still so sick.

"Can I sit next to him?" Morgan gestured towards Reid. His voice was very raspy but he had gotten out of bed for the first time a few hours ago and taken a few steps with a therapist. It had surprised him how much strength he had lost. He had woken up only eighteen hours ago but he had always had an extremely strong immune system. He was healing quickly.

"Just for a few minutes and the nurse is going to wheel you over there." Dr. Halstead finished the sentence in a stern tone, leaving no room for argument. Morgan just nodded in agreement. He didn't want to admit it but he knew that he was weak and the small walk to Reid's bed would wear him out. The nurse helped Morgan slide out of bed and into the wheelchair, settling a blanket over his legs before Morgan could protest. She pushed him through several doors before locking the brakes next to Reid's bed.

"Hey pretty boy." Morgan said quietly as he took in the bed in front of him. He hated seeing any of his teammates hooked up to all of these machines but everyone knew that Morgan had the ultimate soft spot for Reid. Morgan and Reid liked to tease and torment each other but at the end of the day, they were closer than blood brothers. Morgan had been sitting on this side of the bed more times than he could count and each time, it tore at his heart a little more. Reid had been gotten the raw end of the deal so many times. Between anthrax and being shot, Reid had been through it all. "I hear you aren't doing real good, but I can't lose you. I need you. You're my brother. I need you to keep fighting and beat this shitty disease. You're strong. You're stronger than this." Morgan felt the words pouring from his mouth as he looked at Reid. He grabbed Reid's hand between both of hands, wincing at how cold Reid's hands felt. It was like Reid's hands had been left in an ice bucket for a few hours.

"He is definitely a fighter." Dr. Lancaster agreed as he stepped into the room. The CDC was going to leave behind several doctors to help with treatment of the agents, but the majority of them were heading back to Atlanta in a few hours. Their patients no longer needed one-on-one care. "Just a few more minutes and I want you to get back to bed." He pressed two fingers into Morgan's wrist and seemed content with the beat that he felt before stepping to check on Emily. "Well, hello!" He exclaimed happily as he walked up to her bed. Emily's eyes were open and moved to focus on the doctor's face.

"Is she awake?" Garcia squealed as she rushed over from JJ's bedside. "Emily!" Garcia couldn't contain her glee as she looked down at Emily. Emily's eyes were definitely open. It felt like a lifetime had passed since she had seen Emily's eyes.

"Agent Prentiss. I'm Dr. Lancaster. I've been helping treat you. You're on the mend. You have a tube down your throat so don't try to talk. If you understand what I'm saying, blink once. Just try to stay relaxed. The tube is breathing for you." Dr. Lancaster sighed in relief when Emily blinked once back at him. Her eyes were still cloudy with confusion and sleep, but she was definitely awake.

"Emily, you're awake!" Garcia had to stop herself from throwing herself on top of Emily for a hug. She had always been an enthusiastic and very loving person but she knew this was not the time and place for bear hugs. She grasped Emily's non-IV hand with both of her own hands and squeezed gently. Emily turned up the corners of her mouth in a small smile. She brought her hand up and tapped the tube with a questioning look. "The doctor can tell you better than I can."

"The tube can't come out right away. We'll need to run a few breathing tests first." Emily raised her eyebrows. That sounded crazy. There was a tube down her throat. "You'll breathe around the vent. It might be a little uncomfortable but I will be next to you the entire time." Emily gave a tiny nod. She was ready to have this tube out of her mouth. "If you feel ready, we'll go ahead and run the first test now." Emily's lit up and she gave a slightly bigger nod. Dr. Lancaster smiled and beckoned a nurse over. "Okay, here is how this works. You start breathing and we'll see how you do." Emily just nodded again. She started to try to take a breath. "Take it slow. Your lungs are just muscles that you haven't used in a while." Emily closed her eyes and focused in on her breathing. Dr. Lancaster had the nurse start to slowly decrease how much oxygen was being delivered and he was delighted to see Emily's numbers stay steady.

"Can you take it out?" Garcia asked the question for Emily. She knew that Emily would have asked if she had been able to do so. Emily gave Garcia a grateful look before turning back to the doctor.

"I'd like to do one more test in six hours to make sure your numbers are still steady. If that test goes well, the tube can come out!" Dr. Lancaster knew that wasn't really the news that Emily wanted to hear. He hoped that in six hours, Emily would be breathing on her own. "We can sit you up a little bit more but for now, try not to move too much."

"That's good news." Garcia squeezed Emily's hand again. This was soothing her sore heart just a little bit. She just knew that the two team members left would follow suit and wake up. Emily started to try to look around the room. Her eyes grew wider as she took in JJ and Reid. "They're okay. They're just still fighting off the tuberculosis." Emily's face showed her confusion. "Do you not remember?" Emily gave a tiny side-to-side shake of her head. The last thing in her memory right now was the plane ride.

"Keep it simple." Dr. Lancaster said quietly to Garcia. Emily's heart rate had risen once she had seen her teammates and Dr. Lancaster did not want to jeopardize her recovery. "Her body is still fighting."

"You guys were infected with tuberculosis. The guy who did it is in custody and you guys all got a cure." Garcia summarized, trying to keep the scary details to a minimum. "Everyone's healing at their own rate." Emily seemed to accept that answer and let her eyes close. "Get some sleep Em." She carefully pushed the chair back and stepped away. She decided she really needed a few hours of sleep and walked to the conference room. She took one last look behind her before walking into the room. She quickly took off her shoes and fell asleep quickly, imagining Reid and JJ without the tubes in their mouth.

* * *

"How much longer before I can get out of bed?" Hotch was feeling incredibly antsy. He was never one to take a sick day or just spend an entire day in bed and this was driving him crazy. He watched the nurse take his vitals for what felt like the thousandth time. He had woken up and was extremely pleased to hear that Emily had made steps in the right direction. Her second test would be done shortly and he was glad to be awake for that.

"We'll start getting you up for _short_ walks soon." The nurse emphasized short, knowing that the man in the bed in front of her would probably try to run out of the unit once he was out of bed. Hotch sighed, knowing that the nurse was just looking out for him.

"I can't wait until we can just go home!" Morgan chimed in from the bed next to Hotch. Hotch agreed immediately. He had never been a fan of hospitals. There was just a smell that drove him insane. He missed Jack immensely and couldn't wait to hug him.

"What's the prognosis for JJ and Reid?" Hotch asked Dr. Halstead as he came into the room. He had stayed behind with another doctor, Dr. Meads, to assist Dr. Lancaster with the FBI agents.

"I honestly don't have much to update for them right now." Dr. Halstead hated not having a positive update for the agents but there hadn't been any changes in Reid or JJ's condition. They still were completely dependent on the ventilator and their bodies were struggling.

"They're strong." Hotch had repeated that to himself several times but he wanted to say it out loud. Reid and JJ had been through the wringer and had always come out stronger on the other side. This would be no different. They were fighting hard. Dr. Halstead could see the bond that this team shared went beyond just simple teammates. They genuinely cared about each other and he hoped that there would be some good news soon.

* * *

"As the tube is pulled out, you'll want to keep coughing." Dr. Lancaster coached Emily as he prepared to remove the tube from Emily's throat. She was eager for the tube to be gone but she knew that this part was going to hurt. "We will be putting you on this machine for a few hours after." He gestured to a huge mask. "You won't want to try to talk and the mask will need to stay on, no matter what. Are you ready?" Emily gave a double thumbs up before grabbing the rails of the hospital bed to prepare herself. After a few extremely uncomfortable moments of pain, the tube was out. Emily felt the mask being fitted around her face as she coughed.

"This is so exciting!" Garcia tried not to be too shrill but it was awesome to see progress. The bulky mask on Emily's face was a sign that she was getting better.

"We'll keep a close eye on your vitals for the next few hours and if you feel short of breath or dizzy, you need to let us know." Emily nodded that she understood. She remembered that she wasn't supposed to talk. "It's good to see you without the tube, Agent." Dr. Lancaster had been really worried about her. Emily smiled back at him. She knew that she was in good hands being treated by Dr. Lancaster. She had been informed about JJ and Reid and she hoped that they would be able to lose the tubes too.

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A/N: Seemed like a good stopping point! Just probably another chapter or two to finish everything up!


	9. Sense of Victory

A/N: As always, thank you for all the support! Also, a HUGE shoutout to ahowell1993 for the idea I'm introducing in this chapter!

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"I know these are words that you've been waiting to hear since you got here, but you're officially discharged." Dr. Halstead handed several prescription bottles and a stack of paperwork to Hotch with a huge smile. Hotch was the first one to be discharged and Dr. Halstead felt a sense of victory. There had been a time that he wasn't sure what any of their fate would be. It had been three weeks from the moment the group had been wheeled into the isolation units. The three weeks had been full of scary moments but this was a happy moment.

"I can't thank you enough for what you have done for me and my team." Hotch held out his hand and shook Dr. Halstead's hand. He was extremely grateful to have had such a dedicated doctor. The doctor had set up residency inside the hospital and had no plans to leave the hospital until the entire team was discharged.

"Please remember you are not fully healed yet. You have to finish out this drug regiment and I have scheduled a chest x-ray with your doctor back home next month." Dr. Halstead pointed out several things on the document and Hotch nodded. He'd already been given strict instructions on when he would be taking his medication and what he was not supposed to do. "I know how badly you will want to stay here and be with your team but you have to spend some time at the hotel each night so you can get some quality sleep or you'll end up my patient again."

"I understand." Hotch gave a small shake of his head. It was like the doctor had read his mind. He glanced over at Garcia and had to smile. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, almost jumping up and down with glee. It gave her so much hope that Hotch was leaving the hospital and she knew that other members would be following soon.

"I'm going to be joining you in a few days." Morgan said determinedly as he looked at Hotch wistfully. He'd suffered a small setback three days ago where his oxygen level dropped into the 80's. The doctor had run extensive tests to make sure it wasn't a relapse but they had decided it was from Morgan overexerting himself. Even with that answer, they were keeping him a few extra days to give him some more time to rest.

"You will be." Hotch hated that Morgan wasn't going to be joining him. Morgan had been fast tracking to be released before Hotch but with the oxygen incident, he would be the second one out. "I think I'm going to run to the hotel and I'll be back. What do you want for dinner?"

"I'd love a hamburger!" Morgan's eyes lit up and Hotch had to stop himself from laughing. Morgan looked like a child in a candy shop. He was more than ready for some real food. He was appreciative that he had his appetite back but hospital food was bland and not his first choice. He definitely would not turn down good food if he was being offered it.

"I'll grab you one. Anyone else?" Hotch quickly took a few orders and reluctantly climbed into the hospital wheelchair that was waiting for him. Garcia giggled as she stepped behind him to push him out. It was a hospital requirement that all patients left in a wheelchair and as much as Hotch had resisted, he was leaving in the wheelchair. It only took a few minutes to grab the elevator and wheel outside. Hotch tilted his face up to the cloudless sky and breathed in deeply as he took in his first breath of fresh air in the last three weeks.

* * *

"Ouch." JJ's voice was a tiny whisper but it broke through the silence in the room like a cannon going off. Everyone jumped towards the bed to see JJ's blue eyes opening. She slowly brought her hand up to touch her face. JJ was still wearing some supplemental oxygen through a nasal cannula. She tapped the cannula a few times with her hands before blinking and putting her hand down. Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan had all been discharged and had scattered around the isolation room along with Garcia. They had moved JJ into the same isolation room as Emily and Reid to make it easier on the team to be with their hospitalized team mates.

"Hey doctor!" Garcia turned and waved at Dr. Halstead who came into the room quickly. He knew from the look on her face that it could only mean one thing and he rushed in as fast as he could get through the isolation doors. They'd only completely weaned her off of the sedation a few hours earlier.

"Agent Jureau! How are you?" Dr. Halstead gave JJ a huge smile as he snapped on a pair of gloves. He quickly put his stethoscope in his ears and gave a good listen to JJ's chest. The numbers on her monitor were holding steady and her oxygen level was above 95. That was a big success compared to the scary numbers they had seen before. "How are you feeling?"

"Hurts." Everything was still a little fuzzy for JJ. She had flashes of what had happened but her full memory wasn't back yet. "Tuberculosis." She knew that they had been transferred to this hospital because of the isolation room but no one seemed to be wearing any sort of protection anymore. She would ask for an explanation later.

"Yes, tuberculosis. We'll give you something for pain." Dr. Halstead was pleased with how JJ's lungs sounded. They weren't completely clear yet but they were much improved. JJ just nodded, taking all of the information in. Her throat was really sore, probably from all of the coughing. Morgan had this huge, silly grin on his face as he grabbed JJ's good hand. "You're going to be really sore and tired for a while but you're on the road to recovery." JJ gave him a smile of gratitude.

"It's good to see you awake." Morgan felt relief washing over him like a wave. He had no idea how Garcia had done this for weeks all by herself. He felt every tick of the second hand of the clock pulsing in his brain. The sitting and waiting was wearing him down, especially every time he looked at Reid.

"Thanks." JJ gave him a smile and turned to look at him. She could tell that he was feeling much better and she was happy about that. He was dressed in street clothes so she assumed he was no longer a patient. "What happened to me?"

"Well, you got sicker. You were intubated for a while but they thought you were ready to wake up and your lungs were strong enough." JJ watched as Morgan's face contorted as he remembered the heart wrenching moment when JJ had gone downhill. "But, you're awake now!" Morgan was so glad that he was holding a conversation with JJ. There were so many things that Morgan planned on never taking for granted ever again.

"How's Reid and Emily?" JJ turned to look at the other two that were in the room with her. She felt her heart drop when she saw the tube still in Reid's throat. She knew how weak his lungs were compared to the normal person. She was happy to just see a cannula underneath Emily's nose. She started to remember that Emily had coughed up blood and had gotten really sick. She remembered that Emily had been intubated at some point. She guessed she'd been intubated too according to Morgan.

"They're okay. Reid's still working on healing but Emily's doing well. She just still needs some extra oxygen." Morgan didn't want to overwhelm JJ but he knew she would want the information about Reid and Emily. "Everyone else has been discharged. We're going to be on light duty for a while but everyone is healing." JJ just nodded again. Her throat was still sore and she was grateful when the nurse slipped the pain medication in her IV. Her whole body felt like it had been backed over by a truck.

"What about Reid?" JJ pressed after a few more minutes. She stared at the tubes from his body. Spence still looked so sick. All of the tubes that were coming from his body told JJ that Reid wasn't doing anything by himself.

"He's still working on healing." Morgan didn't want to give the full answer. The doctors had sat everyone down earlier and let them know that every day that Reid didn't answer, was a day that decreased the chances that he would wake up. JJ just took that answer for now. "Are you hungry? Do you need anything?" JJ shook her head. She really just needed some sleep. "You just try to get some sleep. Sleep is your best friend." JJ laughed quietly and shut her eyes. Even with her weeks of slumber, she found it easy to slip back into sleep.

* * *

"What are we going to do about Reid?" Rossi was sitting next to the young agent's bed. He'd been working on a crossword puzzle for the past few hours but hadn't added anything new. The irony was that he needed Reid's help to figure out this thirteen letter word that he couldn't figure out. He cared deeply about the young agent and he had such a bright future. He just tried to imagine that Reid was using his brain to heal himself and would wake up any moment now.

"I have no idea Dave." Hotch wished he had a better answer. JJ and Emily were being discharged soon but Reid remained in the same condition. He still responded to painful stimuli but he remained stuck in this comatose state. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Maybe we can have him sent back to Quantico with us?"

"That might not be a bad idea." Rossi processed the idea. No one wanted to leave Reid's side but they had been away from their homes for a month and he knew that everyone was ready to be back home. They had no plans to walk away from this hospital without Reid but this way he would be close to them.

"Let me see what Dr. Halstead thinks about that." Hotch walked towards the door when his phone started buzzing. "Hotch?" He answered in his normal voice. He didn't recognize the number but he often got calls from police agencies that weren't in his address book.

"Um, hi. This might sound crazy but I'm a, a friend of Spencer. I, just, I haven't heard from him in a month and I just am worried. I know you're his boss. I'm sorry. I just am worried." The woman's voice rambled.

"Who are you?" Hotch had never heard of this woman and Reid didn't have many friends outside of the BAU. He was instantly suspicious that the woman had gotten his phone number. Reid would have never given it out.

"My name is Maeve."


	10. Quantico

A/N: Thanks for the support and reviews! Hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

"How did you get this number?" Hotch demanded. He wasn't interested in her name but how she had gotten his phone number and how she knew Reid. Reid wouldn't have given his number out freely. Reid had always been a very private and quiet person so this seemed suspicious to him.

"I, Spencer, I was supposed to use it for an emergency." Maeve stumbled over the words. She had figured he'd ask some questions but his voice was slightly scary. "I just haven't been able to get a hold of him and I got really worried."

"How do you know him?" Hotch kept his voice stern. He still had no reason to trust the lady on the other end of the phone. He snapped his fingers and waved Garcia over. He wrote the number down quickly and Garcia hurried off to find off everything about this person. Hotch was normally protective of Reid but this was a stranger to him and he felt even more protective.

"Well, um, we met because he asked for my help with a medical question. We have just kept talking and, he's sort of my boyfriend. Um, I actually haven't ever met him." Maeve wasn't really sure how to explain the complicated relationship that she had with Spencer. She hadn't ever seen him face-to-face but she would call what they had a romantic relationship.

"What does that mean?" Hotch looked over at Garcia who was looking intently at her computer screen as she clicked from page to page. Reid hadn't mentioned anything like this to him. He looked at Reid's prone form and wondered if he actually knew this woman.

"I know this sounds crazy. I have had a stalker and I've been hidden. I helped him through the phone and we just have kept talking. I, I just, we normally talk every night and I haven't heard from him in three weeks." Maeve wished she could figure out how to explain this easier. It wasn't conventional by any means but somehow they made it work. Garcia waved Hotch over and he had a name to put with the face. "Maeve Donovan?"

"Um, I, how did you know?" Maeve stuttered out. She had been so careful to keep her life hidden. She hadn't stepped foot outside of her apartment in months. She had become a total hermit and tried to prevent her stalker from finding her.

"I work for the FBI." Hotch assumed this woman knew this already. If she was truly dating Reid, Reid must have told her at some point and if not, this would probably scare her away. The phone line didn't click dead and he waited to see if she said anything.

"I've tried to so hard to keep my information secret. That was so fast." Maeve felt a little defeated. She was already thinking about where she might move next or if another city would be safer.

"If you have a stalker, I'm sure Reid's told you we can help." Hotch scanned the screen in front of her. Maeve had done an impressive job of trying to erase her old identity but he could see that she had been a well renowned geneticist and had just dropped off the face of the planet. His gut was telling him that this woman was telling him the truth. She had cancelled every single thing she'd owned or rented and had tried very hard to disappear. Most people might not have been able to track her down but Garcia wasn't your normal hacker.

"I, I don't want to put him or you guys in harm's way." Maeve admitted. She knew that Reid was an FBI agent but she just hated the thought of someone getting hurt helping her. Reid was really special to her and her stalker was completely crazy.

"We are FBI agents. That's part of our daily jobs." Hotch didn't want to hear her objections. He was sure that Reid had tried to convince her before but he thought there was a chance they could help her once they got back to Quantico. They spent a good portion of their life chasing down the people who didn't want to get caught.

"Is Reid okay? What's going on?" Maeve changed the subject. She wouldn't let anyone get hurt for her. She had a system down and she hoped that eventually, her stalker would just give up. She knew that if Reid wasn't answering the phone, something had to be wrong.

"He's been infected with a bad strain of tuberculosis. He's intubated and in a comatose state." Maeve felt tears welling up in her eyes at Hotch's scary words.

"Is, is he going to be okay?" Maeve whispered as the words sank in. She had seen in Reid's medical file that he'd survived anthrax but that would leave his lungs compromised.

"He is very sick but we hope he will make a full recovery. We'll be bringing him back to Quantico with us. It might be good if you came and saw him." Hotch figured it might be a good idea to meet this woman face-to-face and if it all checked out, it might benefit Reid to have some company.

"I, I um normally don't leave my house." Maeve trailed off. She wanted more than anything to meet Reid. She felt this unbelievable connection to him and the past three weeks had been torture. She had missed talking to him and his quirky humor. She felt like she had met someone who intellectually on her level and without him, she felt lonelier than she ever had.

"When we get back, I will personally come pick you up. I will stay with you and we can put you up in a hotel for security." Hotch planned on getting to the bottom of this. The more Garcia was pulling up, the more reason he had to believe. She had filed multiple police reports but nothing had ever come of them. He whispered to Garcia to print the reports out.

"Thank you." Maeve actually felt like this man might be able to help her. Something in his voice reassured her that she would be safe with him. She had no clue who her stalker might be but maybe she should have let Reid take it to his team before now. She just was scared she would put someone in danger's way.

"I'll be in touch in the next day once we get back." Hotch wanted to wrap up the conversation so they could finish everything they needed to do to get back to Quantico.

"Thank you." Maeve repeated and hung up the phone. She sighed as she turned to look at her apartment. She flipped on the overhead light as she yanked out her dresser drawers and thought through what she needed. She started to pack a bag of her clothes and toiletries. She wasn't sure how long it might be before she returned once she left.

* * *

"I am always here if you need to call or video conference with me. I have forwarded all of your medical paperwork to your doctors back home and they'll be following up with you. I always tell my patients that I'm glad to see them go and you are no exception! I am thrilled you're leaving but it's been an honor to treat you all and see you through the first stages of your recovery!" Dr. Halstead stood in front of the team with a huge smile on his face. They were all gathered around Reid who was being prepped for transport. They were going to be taking the medical plane back with him since their jet was still evidence. Rossi had already been looking into a new plane for the team. He knew that the old one would be a painful memory for everyone.

"I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done for us. We owe our lives to you and I will never be able to repay you. Please let us know if there is anything we can ever do for you. I know you put countless hours into our care and making sure we had the best care any medical team could have ever provided," Hotch thanked the medical team. He knew that wouldn't be adequate enough just to thank them but he hoped they understood how gracious everyone on the team was for their dedication to their care. Dr. Lancaster, Dr. Halstead and the team of nurses were all here to see off the agents that they had worked so hard on. They had a round of hugs and handshakes and the agents were heading towards the medical plane.

"We should probably get settled in. This plane will move much slower than our jet." Hotch advised everyone once they had all boarded the huge plane. There were beds instead of seats for the patients that the plane would transport. Everyone got into one of the beds as they prepared for the long flight. JJ had been the last one released from the hospital and between the discharge from the hospital and getting on the plane had exhausted her. She was glad that she would be able to sleep comfortably all the way back to Quantico. She couldn't wait to see her family when she got back. She'd talked on the phone with Will and Henry but it didn't fill the void she felt without them by her side.

"We're safe on this plane, right?" Emily asked Hotch quietly. She definitely felt apprehensive about getting on a plane after what had happened the last time. This plane had a very different look and feel than their normal jet but stepping foot on the plane had still made her heartbeat speed up.

"Hey guys, listen," Hotch spoke loudly, so that everyone could hear him. "This pilot has been checked out extensively. We've gone out to every single relative and their relatives and made sure there isn't anything we should be worried about. We are safe on this plane. There are biomaterial filters in place as a safety precaution. We are safe." Hotch, himself, felt a little nervous about flying but had tried not to show it, as he comforted his team. He knew that everyone had been getting anxious as the flight grew closer but they were all trying to silence the worry in their head.

"Thanks." Morgan nodded and sat down on one of the beds. He had bought a book at the airport and was planning on reading some of the time back but he hoped he might get a little nap in. He knew that once he walked into his house, he was going to have a million things to do and he would want the extra energy to finish them.

"We'll be taking off in about five minutes and it'll be about seven hours until we land in Quantico." Hotch checked his watch as he found a bed. He took the one that was next to Reid. Reid was hooked up to an oxygen machine on the wall and he was strapped into his bed since he was unable to stop himself in case the plane lurched. After everyone had gotten settled in their beds, the plane taxied and they were on their way back to Quantico.

* * *

True to his word, Hotch went and picked up Maeve when they arrived back in Quantico. He showed her his badge and Reid's so she knew that it was safe to open the door. He'd clued the rest of the team in on the situation so they had all waited at the hospital to meet this mystery girl. When they arrived at the hospital, there were lots of questions that Maeve knew she needed to answer honestly. After what felt like an eternity of questions, they brought her back to Reid.

"Spencer." Maeve whispered his name as she felt her eyes fill with tears as she laid eyes on Spencer Reid for the first time ever. He was exactly what she had pictured he would look like. He was a little on the scrawny side and had a boyish look to his face. Even the tubes that emerged from his mouth couldn't disguise his handsome but young features. She slid into the chair that was pulled close to his bed. With a shaking hand, she grabbed his clammy hand and wrapped it in both of hers. She sighed. His hand fit perfectly with hers. "Hey, I, I am Maeve." She didn't really know what to say and it felt kind of weird to be introducing herself to someone she knew so well but didn't know at all. "I didn't think this is how we would be meeting but, I just, your boss convinced me to come out of hiding. I'm so happy to meet you. You're exactly what I thought you'd look like. You have to wake up so that we can go on a real date. I can't wait to have a hundred dates with you and spend time with you. I can't wait to learn your facial expressions and I, I just, please wake up" Maeve felt herself rambling. She stared at his hand, memorizing every line in it. There was a scar on his hand that looked like it had been painful. She wanted to be able to ask him about it. She saw his fingernails were short and she could tell that he bit them. She smiled. She knew he was the nervous type from their long phone calls. She ran her fingers over his hand. His hands were soft. She sighed as she looked at his face again and let out a half-scream of surprise. Reid's eyes were open and watching her.


	11. Breathe

A/N: Shoutout to ahowell1993 for some amazing ideas! Thank you for them! Hope you guys enjoy.

* * *

It felt like someone had their hands wrapped around his throat while they were holding him underwater. He gasped and gagged, trying desperately to get the air into his lungs. Darkness was starting to creep in the corners of his eyes as he fought against the force keeping him from getting the lifesaving air into his lungs. The blackness was calling to him as his vision started getting dimmer and dimmer. He whimpered once as his eyes started fluttering shut. He wasn't sure if they'd open again. Suddenly there was this voice that shattered through the nightmare. Reid knew instantly that voice belonged to Maeve. Was she here with him? Was she in trouble? Reid forced his eyes all the way open as he blinked several times and took in his surroundings. He recognized that this was probably a hospital and from the constricting feeling in his throat, that he was intubated. The woman at the side of his bed screamed as she scrambled several steps away from the bed in shock. He furrowed his brow as he took her in. She was stunningly gorgeous and had the kindest eyes, even if they were wide with panic.

"Are you okay?" Hotch came barreling through the door half a second later at the sound of the scream. He'd been waiting outside of the door to let Maeve have some privacy with Reid. "Oh my God, Reid!" He exclaimed as he rushed towards the bed. Hotch pressed the call button on the side of the bed and frantically asked for the doctor as he looked down at Reid. "You're in the hospital. Don't try to talk. You're intubated." Reid gave the smallest nod that he understood, even though he had already known that he was intubated and most likely in the hospital. All of his memories were very hazy and he had no idea how much time had passed or why he had ended up here.

"Oh my God!" Maeve squeaked out as she started to regain her composure. "Hi Spencer. It's Maeve." She gave him a huge smile as she stepped back towards the bed. Spencer's eyes grew huge as he managed a small smile around the tube. He _knew_ that was her voice. She was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen. He could have always found a photo of her but he had fallen for her voice and intellect. The physical features just hadn't ever seemed important. He definitely couldn't wait for the tube to come out of his throat because he had a million things he wanted to say to Maeve.

"Dr. Reid?" Dr. Flooring came running into the room as he donned a pair of gloves. He was completely surprised to see his patient's eyes open. He had tried to keep his mind optimistic but realistic that Dr. Reid might not ever wake up and this was a small miracle that he was awake. "You are at Georgetown University Hospital. You contracted a severe strain of tuberculosis. You have responded to treatment but you needed some time to rest. I'm going to ask you a few questions. I want you to blink once for yes and twice for no. Does that make sense?" Reid blinked once. "Good. Are you in any pain?" Reid blinked twice. It was hard to explain but his body just felt really weak and he was definitely stiff from being in the same position. "Do you remember how you got to the hospital?" Reid blinked twice. He definitely wanted an answer on what had happened to him.

"We were called for a case in Washington. The pilot of our plane poisoned us with tuberculosis." Hotch picked up the story. Dr. Flooring knew the basics but figured that Hotch would be able to provide more details. Reid blinked a few times as he thought hard. He wanted to remember what Hotch was saying. "We found the cure and everyone's okay. It was rough for a few days but everyone pulled through. You got hit the hardest. The whole case was a façade to get us out there. It's been three weeks since we went to Washington. We all were transported back here two days ago." Reid's eyes were alarmed as he started to process that he had lost three weeks. He didn't remember getting on the plane. He didn't remember getting sick. He didn't remember anyone else being sick. With his memory, he was feeling very lost by the void in his memory.

"It's okay that you don't remember." Dr. Flooring seemed to read Reid's mind. "This is very normal for patients who have been in a comatose state." Reid blinked once as his thoughts continued to race. "So, I'm sure you are curious. We've been monitoring your lungs carefully. I think the tube needs to stay a little bit longer. Your lungs had already taken a huge beating with the anthrax poisoning." Reid blinked once again. "You are getting a second round of antibiotics but you are definitely on the road to recovery. Seeing your eyes open and awake is a great step in the right direction."

"I'm going to call the rest of the team and update them." Hotch told Reid as he walked out of the room. He knew that everyone had been anxious to leave the hospital but Hotch had made a promise to catch Maeve's stalker and he intended to keep that promise. He dialed Garcia, knowing that she was probably in the middle of the team and that way he could tell everyone at the same time.

"Hey boss man!" Garcia answered the phone with a little pep in her voice. She was completely thrilled to be sitting amidst her team minus Reid. It made her sad to think about Reid still fighting but she could look around and see that everyone else was doing well and Reid would get there on his own time.

"Put me on speaker." Hotch knew that Garcia was probably going to scream or drop the phone once he said that Reid had woken up. Garcia pulled her phone away from her ear and turned it on speaker. Everyone got quiet and gathered around the phone, hopeful that the news was going to be good. They had to be prepared that the news might not be good but they held their breath, waiting for Hotch to talk.

"Reid has woken up." Hotch said, wincing slightly while he smiled, when the other end erupted in a loud cheer. He held the phone away from his ear as the cheering died down. He shook his head with an amused look on his face. "He's still going to be on a ventilator for a while but the doctor said this was good."

"Oh my God, that is fantastic!" Garcia squealed as she clapped her hands together. She wanted to do fifteen backflips. Rossi, Morgan, JJ, Emily, and Garcia all exchanged a round of happy hugs as smiles spread across their faces. JJ wiped away a tear of happiness.

"I'll keep you guys updated. How is it going finding Maeve's stalker?" He definitely wanted an update. He hated being out of the loop but he knew that Reid needed someone by his side.

"I think we have a solid lead." Morgan spoke up. They'd been going through Maeve's past with a fine toothed comb. There were a few red flags around the time that she had been engaged to Bobby Putnam. They were exploring more into his history. It wasn't likely that it was him but they could see there was a possibility of a connection.

"Keep it up." Hotch gave some rare words of praise as he ended the call. He walked back into the room to see Maeve leaned over the bed with her hand stroking Reid's cheek. They were staring at each other's face as if they were memorizing each detail. Hotch cleared his throat, hating to break up the moment. "The team thinks they have a lead on your stalker, Maeve." Reid raised one eyebrow.

"Really?" Maeve was blown away that the team had found a lead so quickly. Reid had always praised his teammates and said they were literally the best in the world. "What do they think?"

"They're looking at someone connected to Bobby Putnam." Hotch knew that the name would mean more to Maeve than it did for him. The team had been working on this case without him so he wasn't sure exactly who that was in her life. Bobby could be her brother or a friend or even her husband.

"That's my ex-fiancé." Maeve was confused. Bobby hadn't ever been a violent type. "Will it be okay if I just stay here tonight?" She knew that Hotch had promised to put her up in a hotel or in a safe house until the stalker was found but she really just wanted to be with Reid.

"I think that'll be okay. Let me make a call and I'll have an extra police unit posted here." Hotch planned on staying the night as well but he wanted to take every extra precaution until they were sure the stalker was in custody. There was always a chance that the stalker could have seen them entering the hospital and do something stupid. Maeve nodded and thanked Hotch again. Hotch had told her that she didn't need to keep thanking them but she couldn't seem to stop herself. She was so incredibly grateful about what everyone was doing for her. She was a complete stranger to them but they were ready to put their lives on the line for her. Reid found his eyes falling closed against his will as sleep tugged him back under.

"Just rest." Maeve smiled caringly at Reid as he blinked once more and let his eyes flutter shut. His heart rate slowed as he fell asleep. Maeve pulled out a book to read and Hotch grabbed his laptop as they settled in for a quiet afternoon.

* * *

"Hey sleeping princess!" Morgan had a huge, silly grin on his face as he entered Reid's room. Reid's eyes were open as he watched the television that was on the local news channel. It was giving him a chance to catch up on what he had missed, even if he was still a little confused. Reid gave him a huge eye roll and a playful punch once Morgan was close enough. Morgan laughed as he threw himself down in the nearest chair. Hotch told Reid goodbye as he headed out. He tried to stifle a yawn but he wasn't fooling anyone.

"Are you Morgan?" A quiet voice came as Maeve emerged from the bathroom. She hadn't officially met everyone on the team as they had been busy working on her case and recovering themselves. Just the way that he had entered the room and the aura that he was putting out narrowed it down from how Reid had described everyone on the team. JJ had been with Hotch when he came to get her from her apartment.

"That's me!" Morgan held his hand out for her to shake and Maeve did with a smile. She was thrilled to get to meet Reid's friends. He called them his family. "You have to be Maeve." Morgan laughed. They had a photo of her on the whiteboard so they all knew what she looked like. Maeve nodded as she looked over at Reid. His eyes had a light in them as he watched the two finally get to meet.

"How is it going?" Maeve asked nervously. She was scared that they would tell her that the stalker had slipped through their grasp and was in the wind.

"We have some leads we're following. I promise you this; we will not let them get away. We will find them." Morgan's voice had such sincerity to it. She knew that he meant every word he had just said. Reid had told Maeve that Morgan was one of the most passionate people that he knew. Morgan would do whatever it took to make sure that they always found their unsub and worked incredibly hard.

"I really can't thank you enough." Maeve thanked Morgan as she got in the chair on to opposite side of the bed. They looked at Reid, whose eyes were darting back and forth between the two of them with glee in them. Reid had dreamed of this meeting for a long time. He hadn't imagined that it would happen just like this but that was okay. He sighed with happiness, forgetting in the moment that he had a vent and started to choke as his gag reflex triggered. He grabbed at his throat as panic started to set in. He tried to take shallow pants but the tube was cutting off his airway.

"Doctor!" Maeve sprinted to the door and screamed for help as she threw the door open. She made it back to Reid's side in one long stride as she tried to comfort him as she looked on in horror. His face started to grow paler as he yanked at the tube that had been providing him oxygen as bloody drool started to run from the sides of his mouth. Morgan grabbed Reid's hands and held them firmly down by his side as he tried to soothe him but Reid threw his head from side to side to try to get the tube out. He couldn't breathe and the lack of oxygen was shutting his brain down. He continued to struggle for air as his eyes rolled back and he blacked out.


	12. As the World Melted Away

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and followers! I was in a serious car accident so I apologize if updates don't come quickly.

* * *

"Try to relax for me Dr. Reid!" Dr. Flooring and two nurses came flying into the room, throwing gloves on their hands. Morgan stepped back as one of the nurses stepped in and grabbed Reid's hands from him. Reid's eyes were rolled in the back of his head but his chest was still heaving unevenly in an effort to get air into his lungs. "I'm going to give you something to help you relax." He said, even though he wasn't sure that Reid was able to hear him. His nurse took that as a cue and sprinted to get the necessary medications.

"What's happening?" Maeve cried out as tears poured down her cheeks. Morgan hadn't met this woman before today but he instinctively threw his arm around her and held her close. She leaned into his side as she sobbed. It was incredibly scary as she watched the doctor and nurses hovering over Reid as the alarms blared in the background while the monitors flashed numbers that signaled that something was wrong.

"His gag reflex is overworking and he's hyperventilating and panicking against the tube. We'll give him a sedative and let him reset." Dr. Flooring addressed Maeve's question but spoke loudly so that he hoped Dr. Reid could hear and understand him. The nurse inserted the medication into the IV line and within a few seconds, Reid's body went limp and the horrible retching noises faded away.

"What's going on?" Morgan asked after he watched Dr. Flooring remove the stethoscope from his ears. He had spent a lengthy time listening to Reid's lungs with a serious look on his face. Morgan knew that Reid's lungs were not as strong as most people's lungs.

"His body is still recovering. His lungs are very weak. It is just going to take some time." Dr. Flooring sighed. He had hoping that this would not set Reid's recovery back too far. He had tentatively thought that the agent had turned a corner.

"He'll be okay, right?" Maeve moved closer to Reid and grabbed his hand. She hated how clammy it was in her grasp. When she had imagined holding Reid's hand, she had figured it would be warm. She wanted to be holding his hand as they walked home from a dinner date that ended with a late night movie. They'd be laughing or discussing their favorite scenes from the movie as they slowly made their way back to Reid's apartment.

"I am cautious but I do think he will recover. This is semi-normal for patients to start rebelling against the vent as they recover. We'll let him rest and test him later to see if he's ready for the tube to come out." Dr. Flooring had been informed multiple times about how strong and tough Dr. Reid was. He believed that Dr. Reid would fight hard but with compromised lungs, it was still a tough road ahead. "I think he knows he has a good support system and will give it everything. He'll need his friends to help get him through this." Maeve and Morgan nodded vehemently. They weren't going to be leaving Reid's side. "Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns." Dr. Flooring grabbed some hand sanitizer from the container on the wall and left the room.

"I'm going to let the team know what's going on." Morgan said as he texted everyone an update. He got a reply almost instantly from everyone. JJ also sent him an update on how the lead with Maeve's stalker was going. They were tracking down Bobby still. It seems like he had also gone off the grid. "They're still looking for Bobby. It seems like he might have tried to disappear like you did."

"The stalker never seemed to be going for him but he might have decided to play it safe." Maeve had had absolutely no contact with Bobby. She had let her last life go, knowing that it was the price she had to pay in order to be able to stay alive. She hoped that Bobby was doing well, wherever he was.

"Okay. I'll let the team know." Morgan sent a quick text back to JJ with the extra information. He knew that it wouldn't take Garcia long to track him down, especially knowing that he didn't want to be found. Garcia had tried to explain to him, multiple times, that it was a different algorithm to follow when the person didn't want to be found but Morgan just nodded his head and pretended that he understood.

"I just am so appreciative for what you're doing." Maeve had not been this safe and secure in forever. She knew that the Derek wouldn't let anything happen to her. She still felt guilty that they were spending their time on her but they had refused to drop the case once they found out about it.

"You are welcome but you seriously don't have to keep thanking us. This is part of our job. We're trained to handle this type of thing." Morgan gave Maeve a big smile. His phone started to buzz and Morgan looked down to see that it was Garcia calling him. "I'm going to take this phone call." He walked towards the window and answered, "Hey sweet cheeks."

"Hey yourself." Garcia couldn't stop herself from smiling when she heard Morgan's voice. It just made her worries and fears melt away. "How's my baby boy?" She had been horrified and worried about the new development in Reid's recovery.

"He's hanging in there. Doc thinks this isn't a huge setback." Morgan answered honestly as he gave a glance over at Reid. He hated that damn tube and couldn't wait for it to be gone.

"My poor baby." Garcia's voice was full of sadness. She cared for Reid so much and to hear about him suffering really upset her. She wanted to camp out at his bedside but she had unfortunately had to keep working. She wanted nothing more than to be there by Reid's side. "I do have some good news!"

"Lay it on me!" Morgan was definitely in the mood for some good news.

"I have an address for Bobby. JJ and Rossi are on their way to question him." Garcia's voice was peppy again. She had followed the tiniest of rabbit trails to finally locate Bobby. She didn't think that he was the stalker from the profile he presented with but he was the logical first step and a rational person to look at.

"That's great!" Morgan turned to Maeve who was looking up at him with a questioning look. "They located Bobby and are headed there now." Maeve gave him a grateful smile and squeezed Reid's hand before repeating the information to him in case he could hear.

"I really need to get back to working but please let me know immediately if something changes with Reid. I love you!" And with a click, Garcia was gone. Morgan smiled as he shook his head. He loved working with her.

"That sounds good." Maeve was excited for a positive update. Morgan agreed with her. He yawned as he realized that he had been going for almost two days without sleep. He got himself in the reclining chair and let himself get some sleep.

* * *

"Derek?" Maeve's voice was quiet as she stood nearby. She didn't want to reach out and touch him and scare him so she just called his name quietly. He had been snoring for the past few hours and she hated to wake him up but it looked like Reid might be waking up.

"Yea? 'verything okay?" Morgan blinked a few times to clear the sleep from his eyes as he sat up. His back cracked as he got to his feet. He was glad that he had gotten to catch up on a little bit of sleep.

"I think he's waking up!" Maeve could see where Reid's eyelids were starting to flutter. They stood by his bedside as Reid opened his eyes after a few more minutes. Morgan pressed the button to call for the nurse and Dr. Flooring appeared after a few moments.

"Hey Dr. Reid. I'm Dr. Flooring. Do you remember the blink once for yes and the twice for no?" Dr. Flooring asked Reid and Reid blinked once after a second. "You triggered your gag reflex and we sedated you to help you. Do you feel better?" Reid blinked once again. "Do you remember what happened?" Reid blinked twice and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "That's okay!" Dr. Flooring reassured Reid quickly. "We're going to run some tests to see if we can get that tube out of your throat." Reid blinked once, hard. He was more than ready for this tube to get out of his throat. "Let me grab a nurse and we'll get started." Dr. Flooring called for a nurse and they got started preforming a variety of tests to make sure that Reid could handle coming off of the vent. "I am confident that we can remove the vent!" Dr. Flooring announced after almost an hour of testing, sounding triumphant. He was excited for his patient and this victory.

"That's amazing news!" Morgan wasted no time in sending out a message so that he could keep the team in the loop. His phone started dinging almost immediately with responses. He knew that most of them would probably head over. Dr. Flooring gave Reid several directions on what would happen as the nurses got prepared for the tube removal. Morgan winced as they started pulling the tube out and Reid started to cough and gag. It looked excruciatingly painful and from the grimace on Reid's face and the death grip he had on the sheets, he knew that it had to be. It was several long minutes with Reid gasping and gagging while the nurses helped him sit up and held an oxygen mask against his face before he started to get it together.

"How do you feel?" Dr. Flooring asked after almost half an hour. Reid had finally gotten control of his coughing and had taken several small sips of water. He had a nasal cannula fitted snuggly under his nose. His oxygen level was remaining high and his heart rate was starting to come back down.

"Okay." Reid's voice was hoarse as he forced the word out. He winced at the pain in his throat and swallowed another sip of water. Dr. Flooring took yet another listen to his lungs before he seemed satisfied. He'd be monitoring Reid closely to make sure that the junk that was still in Reid's lungs was released.

"Your voice will return. Don't overdo it though. Please remember that you are still recovering and if you push it, you could relapse. You call me if you feel odd or strange or just anything at all." Dr. Flooring instructed Reid before heading out. As soon as Dr. Flooring was out of the room, Reid looked to the foot of the bed where Morgan and the woman of his dreams were standing.

"Hey pretty boy." Morgan couldn't even express the relief in his heart right now. There weren't words to explain just how thrilled he was that Reid was breathing without the tube. "We've been so scared." He didn't need to add anything else. He knew that his face showed all of the emotions he felt when he thought about how close they had been to losing Reid. "I can't tell you how happy I am you're awake but I am going to give you a few minutes with this amazing lady." As much as he wanted to stay here with Reid, he knew the right thing to do. Morgan pointed over to Maeve, who took a tentative step towards the bed with a huge smile on her face. She blushed at Morgan's words and gave him a wave as he left.

"Hi." Reid fumbled to get the word out. It was like every word in his entire vocabulary had fled from his brain as he looked at Maeve. "It's nice to meet you." He had this huge and cheesy grin as he marveled at her beauty. Maeve could not even begin to understand how lucky she felt. Reid had never been a believer in true love or love at first sight but he had changed his mind in a heartbeat with Maeve. Maeve leaned closer and Reid lifted his head off his pillow to meet her halfway and after a moment of just pressing their foreheads together with their eyes closed, they pressed their lips together and the world around them melted away as they kissed.


End file.
